Lloyd Winburn

WAR IN THE PACIFIC

2011-04-07T10:08:00.000-07:00

Reality Revealed

On my birthday 1945, I turned 18 years old. I was sworn into the Navy to join the efforts to fight the WWII battles.

Little did I know what I was getting into nor was I to learn until I read the book by John Toland, author of BUT NOT IN SHAME. In his book, Toland recounted the history of the 6 months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

I remember well where I was and what I was doing when the news came of the end of the war. I was awaiting a ship to take me and a number of other Hospital Corpsmen out to the battles raging in the Pacific. I had been transferred to the Fleet Marine Forces. Talk about a plunge from pure laid back sanity to pure hell; this was it.

We had all read of the atrocities committed against Allied troops in The Bataan Death March, the attacks on Pearl Harbor; the battles for Midway, the Philippines and other tragic battles the Allies has suffered. Taking those island back one island at a time was projected to be bloody and dangerous... especially for junior officers and Hospital Corpsmen who were the personnel up and moving around during the fierce landings and fierce confrontation with the Japanese occupiers.

I never had to get on the ship. It was in the Port but not ready to receive us.

Truman, thank God, dropped 'the bombs' and the war ended. I had volunteered for the 'duration and six months.' Like a whirlwind, the war ended, the troops were thinned out and I was among the first to be released.

I knew the fighting had been horrible. I had missed it, by the Grace of God, and never gave it all much thought. I did track the “Victory at Sea” and other graphic reports of the battles of the Pacific... as well as the great battles in Europe. I had three older brothers who were there, in Italy and in Burma. One was at Pearl Harbor when the US was first attacked. They had great stories to tell, but non ever did.

Read the book. You owe it to yourself. Start it and you will not be able to lay it down. John Toland has detailed the six months after Pearl Harbor in real feeling detail.He provides us with details so real that I wept more than once reading of the pain, suffering and true stories of unselfishness and heroism.

Live history....

Lloyd Winburn

LEAVE THE DOCTORS OUT OF IT ONCE YOU GET THEIR HELP CONFIRMING THE DIAGNOSIS.

2011-03-05T21:56:00.000-08:00

LEAVE THE DOCTORS OUT OF IT

November 2010 Thanksgiving I was with my family in Chapel Hill. With GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease) I was beat down. My energy level was down but seeing my de Lima grandkids and my daughter Jennifer, I was lifted.

The GERD thing came on when I was in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico, with my Son Craig and his wife Cheli. Normally I can take Mexican food with minimal problems and love the spicy level at medium high. I was surprised that I had any discomfort but this thing came on with a bang. All the symptoms were manifested for a few days but I sought no help for a week. The Mexican doctor, an internist, went right for the diagnosis indicated by the symptoms. He suggested a scoping but since I was already planning to go into Tempe where my other son lived, I decided to wait.

Back in Tempe, I checked in with the primary care doctor who listened to my tale and did a few tests and concluded that the need for a scoping was manifest. It didn't take long... the entered from both ends and found a spot on my stomach. Pronounced not serious the situation called for some pills.

Over a period of weeks, nothing hurt more than the side effects of the pills. I grew unsteady on my feet, developed headaches, sleeping became difficult, there was dizziness at times and my walking was erratic and I struggle to keep my balance by the end of my walks.

Thanksgiving came on and Mark, his Kids and I all took off for Chapel Hill to vacation with Jennifer and her family. It was great to be with everyone but I could not add anything to the festivities. All those little indications that the medication was bothering me continued and I was at my wit's end.

The feast had come and gone and on the Monday after Thanksgiving I took the bus and went down town Chapel Hill. Almost not realizing what I was doing, I left the bus at the stop in front of the theater on Franklin Street. I walked unsteadily up about a mile and a half to the emergency room of the UNC Med Center. At times I thought I should forget about my problems and other time felt I could not make it to my destination.

Ultimately I stumble into the reception desk of the emergency care facility. I explained that I did not feel well and aid out my symptoms. At the mention of headaches, dizziness and having difficulty walking, all underscored, of my course, my obvious advanced age set off the alarms. I was put into a wheel chair and hustled back into the bowels of the hospital emergency quarters, taken into one of the booths with curtain walls and put into a bed. Immediately there was a flurry of activity and in short order I has undergone a complete tests of my 'vitals' as I came to understand them.

For four hours I was tested, listened to, questioned and examined by doctors, nurses and a multitude of medical students who were having a field day with their observations and questions. It seemed every doctor was accompanied by his very own multitude came in.

There was fear of a stroke and of course a heart attack. The stroke diagnoses was eliminated by a scan of my head. There was nothing to indicate there had been any sort of problem. A small growth of some kind was found but eliminated as being 'not significant.' A pool of water was found on the left side of the brain but this was considered also as insignificant.

Someone dropped the idea of sleep apnea and the ideal took wings. It was to become the favorite thing coupled with the medication for GERD and standard signs of aging. Sleep apnea aggravated by Gerd was settled upon as the next thing to be inseminated. Because I was schedule to return to Tempe, the idea of a 'sleep test' was suggested for consideration as soon a I got back. I should take it up with my primary care physician.

Meanwhile, I took control. I stopped the medication, ate nothing that was remotely possibly going to be too much for my stomach. I slept a great deal and the grand kids helped me find and cut a sapling to be whittled into a walking stick. The headaches and dizziness subsided and by the time I got back to Tempe, I was not eager to see a doctor. However, I body was telling me something was wrong; therefore, I set an appointment with the primary care physician.

The primary physician changed the medication and I experimented with it for a week, change from one pill to two pills per day as the doctor ordered. I felt my self slipping back into my past condition and explored the medicine on the Internet. I went to taking an over the counter pill which help, perhaps because I was off the prescription.

After waiting a month to get the records from NCU Medical Center, an appointment was set up with an neurologist who went along with the sleep apnea diagnosis based upon how I explained the sleep environment I had. He set up the sleep tests. There were '26 incidences' to exemplify that I had a problem with breathing at night. My bed was jacked up on one end and I went back to the sleep center to get fitted for a mask. The mask and the attendant apparatus is designed to equalize a constant flow of air (not oxygen) down into my lungs. It is uncomfortable but I feel I will grow to not mind.

The thing is: I have taken control of what I eat, eliminating anything that could possibly aggravate my GERD condition and I am now taking only one pill a day, taking the pill upon arising from sleep with a large glass of water. It helps with a couple of anti acid tablets some time after eating before going to bed.

There seems to be no effort to address the cause, only treat the symptoms. That leaves me with the feeling that I can take it from here... cautiously. Doctors have played a role in helping arrive at the diagnosis, now with the Internet, I can take it from here. I am walking my 2 to 4 miles a day, sleeping at least 6 hours every night and take a nap every afternoon of about 1 hour. I found that ginger snaps help with the gas along with twists of licorice. I have tea and ginger snaps during the moving or news in the evening and a stick or two of licorice during the day. I use ginger in my rice an stay away from tomatoes, which I love. I take half a glass of wine when I care to with my means and limit my coffee to breakfast with food. Any unsteady feeling I experience can easily be laid off on the old age. The weather is warm and I take about an hour of sunshine out by the pool in the afternoon

I know my body better than anyone. I do not abuse it and can anticipate everything that is happening out of the ordinary. I have thee pair of shoes and one pair of sandals. I alternate the shoes when I walk and use the sandals around the house. A fissure on my anus is painful but I can handle it. Sooner or later it will heal, otherwise I will revert to Hippocrates' remedy, the hot poker. That is, if I can get some help directing it at the proper target.

AMERICA'S CHALLENGE

2011-01-27T08:06:00.000-08:00

Those who want to know how America will meet its challenge of the future... seriously, and without fluff... should read this article in the Washington Post.

In the tradition of Presidents Eisenhower, Reagan, Kennedy... and further back, FDR... President Obama lays it out clearly, imaginatively and studiously.

There are those who do not hear what he is saying because their mind is clouded with self interest, selfishness, and political purpose. But it is there, as the article clearly points out. History support him and his reasonableness, and calm will pass over the barriers of hysteria, hate, greenness and stupidity to meet the challenge.

Lloyd

EDUCATION AND THE ECONOMY

2011-01-19T13:03:00.000-08:00

MY SON THE GENIUS

Education is not a social issue, it is an economic issue, and until we treat it as such America's global power will continue to weaken.

- Mark
I must say that Mark is one of the best read people I have ever known... no trash, just good material.

Mark is one of those gifted people who retains everything he ever read and that is accompanied with a somewhat questionable talent for remembering every movie he ever saw and can give you the history of everyone associated with the movie and listed or not in the Credits.

Mark is a thinking Libertarian. Not of the type that wants Government to stay out of the Democratic Socialism territory, but out of the personal freedom with equal or justifiable difference in governmental preference to either capital or labor. He differs from me on the issue in that I want first preference to go to labor. I fit best with the Democratic Socialists.

Lloyd

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?

2010-08-03T16:37:00.000-07:00

THE ANSWER IS EASY..... SECURITY, EARNINGS, CONSISTENCY, EFFORTLESS....

YOU CAN FIND IT ALL HERE!

GUEST POST. TIME TO END THE DRUG WAR

2010-07-05T09:02:00.000-07:00

AWAY WITH THE STUPIDITY. DO WE NOT LEARN FROM HISTORY?

I am pleased to have this post from my son, Craig. He says it came form the Los Angeles Times

craigwinburn: Why doesn't the LA Times look to history as the answer to this "drug war"?

Do we see any St. Valentines day massacres, or Al Capone types dying over alcohol distribution today?

Look closer and you will see that the so called "drug war" is a war for territory in which to distribute.

Prohibition is the cause of the violence. on the day when alcohol prohibition ended so did the violence associated with that destructive and ineffective legislation.

We need to treat the destruction of addiction as what it clearly is, a medical and social illness, not a criminal problem.

End this failed attempt to legislate morality, Educate to make drug use as unpopular to the masses as smoking a cigar in a restaurant has become, and treat addiction as we treat other illnesses, with medication and therapy.

Where the drug laws are lax or non-existent drug use by the young is statistically less than in this country. It's a fact our entrenched drug bureaucracy, (DEA, Prosecutors, Attorneys, Prison Industry etc.) would like you to continue to ignore the facts.

By every measurable means, the war on drugs has failed. It's time to use the "L" word. Tax and regulate the use of drugs by adults that use drugs responsibly (over 85%) and use the tax revenue to treat those poor souls who cannot control their addictions.

Ask yourself this question: If heroin were legal today, would you inject yourself with this poison? If your answer is no, then why do you continue to believe that most of the rest of us do not share your wisdom? That should address the fear that everyone would become addicted if this prohibition were repealed. What do we have to lose? We can always reinstate the failed policies we have in place now.

Time to face the obvious.

2010-05-29T20:33:00.000-07:00

EARN 2% TO 10% ON YOUR INVESTMENT EACH MONTH... WITH MINIMAL RISK
Day Trading has been around as long as the Market has existed.

Until now, this profitable activity has been the province
of the very wealthy.

What advantage does the Club have that other such investment opportunities do not have?

There is a low one-time membership fee with no dues and no assessments.
The Club has a trader who offers trading with minimal risk or loss through judicious use of leverage and Stop Loss Orders.
Trades are made and results are posted when the trade is closed no less than every 20 days.
Earnings are paid out automatically at the end of every month.
Also, there is an opportunity to earn through referrals...
WOULDN'T YOU LIKE TO HAVE EXTRA MONEY?
$5O A DAY?
$100 A WEEK?
$500 A WEEK?
Or even MORE?
You are paid $50 for each new member sponsored with a 5% residual on their earnings paid
into your account. Capital and earnings may be withdrawn every month. Funds are held in
United States Treasury Bills. There is no fee for withdrawal of capital. Trader takes a
fee only out of earnings. No fees are taken out of capital. Accounts are maintained on
line available to individual members 24/7 with no fees for viewing.
You can join, sponsor others and never have any further outlay.
1.Your fee for sponsoring someone is $50 and there is a 5% residual fee on earnings.Earnings
2.are paid monthly.
3.An online statement of members' account is available 24/7 and there are no fees for
4.viewing.
5.Capital is available for withdrawal every month.
6.Your membership has many other valuable benefits and dimensions for learning.
7.Courses that cost individually thousands of dollars are available FREE to members.
Nothing is obligatory.
AND HOW DO THEY DO THAT?
Day Trading is a tried and proven method for making money in the market.
The guidelines are:
Use only a a part of the available capital;
Stay with valued stocks;
Use leverage judiciously;
Pick stocks on the move;
Place a Stop Loss Order to avoid or minimize loss on any trade;
Buy and hold until the price stops and/or changes directions.
Get out and take the profit or loss as the case might be.
THE SAFETY FACTORS:
Minimal Capital at Risk.
Traders keep the amount of capital on a single investment at no more than 10% of the whole;
They use leverage studiously, not at the maximum available of 100:1 but do 10:1 or a
little higher; Earnings are paid out regula
“THAT IS ALL EASIER SAID THAN DONE,” YOU SAY.
There can be nothing more minimal... minimal risk, minimal time spent, minimal worry
and searching, shopping or investigating. Get help. Band together. We do. We focus.
We seek earnings in the market where we can preserve our capital. We use Stop Loss Orders,
a lower level of leverage, traders with experience and deal with a broker who will allow
us to join in with smaller amounts of capital. More importantly, our traders do not take
their fee unless we make money. In short, they do not take money out of our capital.

LEARN TO EARN. ACT NOW.
We have seen how fast catastrophe can be upon us. We have witnessed the loss of homes,
retirement plans, jobs, educational savings.... Everything has been touched through bad
management, greed and thievery in the financial markets. Especially on Wall Street.
At the same time we have seen the rich become richer and the poor become more poor.
We must act for ourselves as the economy climbs out of its hole. We need to take action
to have our money grow into wealth... Wealth that we can depend upon, retire on, educate
ourselves and your kids with, to buy a home or pay for the one you are now buying.

WE CAN CONTROL OUR FINANCIAL FUTURE.
Change things. Join the Club. The Club has ways of helping you grow your wealth.
Bring others into the club... your family, friends, neighbors, fellow workers, church
members (especially the pastor) to increase you income with little effort. Sponsor
others: You receive into your Lab account $50 for every member you introduce; You can
even join the club, pay your dues and fund your Lab or investment account by sponsoring
others! Plus, you receive a continuing 5% of the earnings of those you sponsor.
Avoid up front costly fees. The Club's membership fee is a low life-time minimal fee with
no assessments or dues. Become a member, fund a minimal Lab account.
Watch your money grow into wealth. You can add more capital when you care to do so.
PREPARE. START NOW
Explore but do not gamble.
Be consistent in savings.
Cut your credit and stop paying interest wherever you can. Follow what your Club is doing.
Enjoy consistent earnings that are paid monthly.
Learn how it is done along with other things we can do to grow our capital. Do not rush.
Don't be in a hurry and do not panic, realizing that perseverance and caution have value.
Work as a club in a learning atmosphere and do not go all over the market looking for deals, exposing ourselves to scams. Nothing could be easier. Take the road to good returns now!
JOIN
FAQS

IT IS TIME WE HELPED OURSELVES. THE TIME IS RIPE. LETS GRAB THE GOLDEN RING!

2010-05-29T20:30:00.001-07:00

EARN 2% TO 10% ON YOUR INVESTMENT EACH MONTH... WITH MINIMAL RISK
Day Trading has been around as long as the Market has existed.

Until now, this profitable activity has been the province
of the very wealthy.

What advantage does the Club have that other such investment opportunities do not have?

There is a low one-time membership fee with no dues and no assessments.
The Club has a trader who offers trading with minimal risk or loss through judicious use of leverage and Stop Loss Orders.

Trades are made and results are posted when the trade is closed no less than every 20 days.
Earnings are paid out automatically at the end of every month.
Also, there is an opportunity to earn through referrals...

WOULDN'T YOU LIKE TO HAVE EXTRA MONEY?

$5O A DAY?

$100 A WEEK?

$500 A WEEK?

Or even MORE?

You are paid $50 for each new member sponsored with a 5% residual on their earnings paid
into your account. Capital and earnings may be withdrawn every month. Funds are held in
United States Treasury Bills. There is no fee for withdrawal of capital. Trader takes a
fee only out of earnings. No fees are taken out of capital. Accounts are maintained on
line available to individual members 24/7 with no fees for viewing.

You can join, sponsor others and never have any further outlay.
1.Your fee for sponsoring someone is $50 and there is a 5% residual fee on earnings.Earnings
2.are paid monthly.
3.An online statement of members' account is available 24/7 and there are no fees for
4.viewing.
5.Capital is available for withdrawal every month.
6.Your membership has many other valuable benefits and dimensions for learning.
7.Courses that cost individually thousands of dollars are available FREE to members.
Nothing is obligatory.

AND HOW DO THEY DO THAT?

Day Trading is a tried and proven method for making money in the market.
The guidelines are:
Use only a a part of the available capital;
Stay with valued stocks;
Use leverage judiciously;
Pick stocks on the move;
Place a Stop Loss Order to avoid or minimize loss on any trade;
Buy and hold until the price stops and/or changes directions.
Get out and take the profit or loss as the case might be.
THE SAFETY FACTORS:
Minimal Capital at Risk.
Traders keep the amount of capital on a single investment at no more than 10% of the whole;
They use leverage studiously, not at the maximum available of 100:1 but do 10:1 or a
little higher; Earnings are paid out regularly.

“THAT IS ALL EASIER SAID THAN DONE,” YOU SAY.
There can be nothing more minimal... minimal risk, minimal time spent, minimal worry
and searching, shopping or investigating. Get help. Band together. We do. We focus.
We seek earnings in the market where we can preserve our capital. We use Stop Loss Orders,
a lower level of leverage, traders with experience and deal with a broker who will allow
us to join in with smaller amounts of capital. More importantly, our traders do not take
their fee unless we make money. In short, they do not take money out of our capital.

LEARN TO EARN. ACT NOW.

We have seen how fast catastrophe can be upon us. We have witnessed the loss of homes,
retirement plans, jobs, educational savings.... Everything has been touched through bad
management, greed and thievery in the financial markets. Especially on Wall Street.
At the same time we have seen the rich become richer and the poor become more poor.
We must act for ourselves as the economy climbs out of its hole. We need to take action
to have our money grow into wealth... Wealth that we can depend upon, retire on, educate
ourselves and your kids with, to buy a home or pay for the one you are now buying.

WE CAN CONTROL OUR FINANCIAL FUTURE.

Change things. Join the Club. The Club has ways of helping you grow your wealth.
Bring others into the club... your family, friends, neighbors, fellow workers, church
members (especially the pastor) to increase you income with little effort. Sponsor
others: You receive into your Lab account $50 for every member you introduce; You can
even join the club, pay your dues and fund your Lab or investment account by sponsoring
others! Plus, you receive a continuing 5% of the earnings of those you sponsor.
Avoid up front costly fees. The Club's membership fee is a low life-time minimal fee with
no assessments or dues. Become a member, fund a minimal Lab account.
Watch your money grow into wealth. You can add more capital when you care to do so.

PREPARE. START NOW

Explore but do not gamble.
Be consistent in savings.
Cut your credit and stop paying interest wherever you can. Follow what your Club is doing.
Enjoy consistent earnings that are paid monthly.
Learn how it is done along with other things we can do to grow our capital. Do not rush.
Don't be in a hurry and do not panic, realizing that perseverance and caution have value.
Work as a club in a learning atmosphere and do not go all over the market looking for deals, exposing ourselves to scams.
Nothing could be easier. Take the road to good returns now!

JOIN

FAQS

2010-05-29T20:24:00.001-07:00

EARN 2% TO 10% ON YOUR INVESTMENT EACH MONTH... WITH MINIMAL RISK

Day Trading has been around as long as the Market has existed.


Until now, this profitable activity has been the province 
of the very wealthy. 
 
What advantage does the Club have that other such investment opportunities do not have?  


There is a low one-time membership fee with no dues and no assessments.   
 The Club has a trader who offers trading with minimal risk or loss through judicious use of leverage and Stop Loss Orders.   
Trades are made and results are posted when the trade is closed no less than every 20 days.   
Earnings are paid out automatically at the end of every month.   
Also, there is an opportunity to earn through referrals... 
 WOULDN'T YOU LIKE TO HAVE EXTRA MONEY?
$5O A DAY?
$100 A WEEK?
$500 A WEEK?
Or even MORE?
You are paid $50 for each new member sponsored with a 5% residual on their earnings paid
into your account. Capital and earnings may be withdrawn every month. Funds are held in
United States Treasury Bills. There is no fee for withdrawal of capital. Trader takes a
fee only out of earnings. No fees are taken out of capital. Accounts are maintained on
line available to individual members 24/7 with no fees for viewing.

You can join, sponsor others and never have any further outlay.

Your fee for sponsoring someone is $50 and there is a 5% residual fee on earnings.Earnings
are paid monthly.
An online statement of members' account is available 24/7 and there are no fees for
viewing.
Capital is available for withdrawal every month.
Your membership has many other valuable benefits and dimensions for learning.
Courses that cost individually thousands of dollars are available FREE to members.

Nothing is obligatory.
AND HOW DO THEY DO THAT?
Day Trading is a tried and proven method for making money in the market.
The guidelines are:
Use only a a part of the available capital;
Stay with valued stocks;
Use leverage judiciously;
Pick stocks on the move;
Place a Stop Loss Order to avoid or minimize loss on any trade;
Buy and hold until the price stops and/or changes directions.
Get out and take the profit or loss as the case might be.
THE SAFETY FACTORS:
Minimal Capital at Risk.
Traders keep the amount of capital on a single investment at no more than 10% of the whole;
They use leverage studiously, not at the maximum available of 100:1 but do 10:1 or a
little higher; Earnings are paid out regula
“THAT IS ALL EASIER SAID THAN DONE,” YOU SAY.
There can be nothing more minimal... minimal risk, minimal time spent, minimal worry
and searching, shopping or investigating. Get help. Band together. We do. We focus.
We seek earnings in the market where we can preserve our capital. We use Stop Loss Orders,
a lower level of leverage, traders with experience and deal with a broker who will allow
us to join in with smaller amounts of capital. More importantly, our traders do not take
their fee unless we make money. In short, they do not take money out of our capital.

LEARN TO EARN. ACT NOW.
We have seen how fast catastrophe can be upon us. We have witnessed the loss of homes,
retirement plans, jobs, educational savings.... Everything has been touched through bad
management, greed and thievery in the financial markets. Especially on Wall Street.
At the same time we have seen the rich become richer and the poor become more poor.
We must act for ourselves as the economy climbs out of its hole. We need to take action
to have our money grow into wealth... Wealth that we can depend upon, retire on, educate
ourselves and your kids with, to buy a home or pay for the one you are now buying.

```
Explore but do not gamble. 
```
```
Be consistent in savings. 
```

Cut your credit and stop paying interest wherever you can. Follow what your Club is doing.

Enjoy consistent earnings that are paid monthly.

Learn how it is done along with other things we can do to grow our capital. Do not rush.

Don't be in a hurry and do not panic, realizing that perseverance and caution have value.

Work as a club in a learning atmosphere and do not go all over the market looking for deals, exposing ourselves to scams. Nothing could be easier. Take the road to good returns now!

JOIN                 
FAQS

EARN 2%, 4%, 5%, 8%, 10% OR EVEN MORE EACH MONTH ON YOUR INVESTMENT....WITH MINIMAL RISK

2010-05-29T12:57:00.000-07:00

EARN 2% TO 10% ON YOUR INVESTMENT EACH MONTH... WITH MINIMAL RISK

Day Trading has been around as long as the Market has existed.


Until now, this profitable activity has been the province 
of the very wealthy. 
 
What advantage does the Club have that other such investment opportunities do not have?  There is a low one-time membership fee with no dues and no assessments.   
 The Club has a trader who offers trading with minimal risk or loss through judicious use of leverage and Stop Loss Orders.   
Trades are made and results are posted when the trade is closed no less than every 20 days.   
Earnings are paid out automatically at the end of every month.   
Also, there is an opportunity to earn through referrals... 
 WOULDN'T YOU LIKE TO HAVE EXTRA MONEY?
$5O A DAY?
$100 A WEEK?
$500 A WEEK?
Or even MORE?
You are paid $50 for each new member sponsored with a 5% residual on their earnings paid
into your account. Capital and earnings may be withdrawn every month. Funds are held in
United States Treasury Bills. There is no fee for withdrawal of capital. Trader takes a
fee only out of earnings. No fees are taken out of capital. Accounts are maintained on
line available to individual members 24/7 with no fees for viewing.
You can join, sponsor others and never have any further outlay.

Your fee for sponsoring someone is $50 and there is a 5% residual fee on earnings.Earnings
are paid monthly.
An online statement of members' account is available 24/7 and there are no fees for
viewing.
Capital is available for withdrawal every month.
Your membership has many other valuable benefits and dimensions for learning.
Courses that cost individually thousands of dollars are available FREE to members.

WE CAN CONTROL OUR FINANCIAL FUTURE.
Change things. Join the Club. The Club has ways of helping you grow your wealth.
Bring others into the club... your family, friends, neighbors, fellow workers, church
members (especially the pastor) to increase you income with little effort. Sponsor
others: You receive into your Lab account $50 for every member you introduce; You can
even join the club, pay your dues and fund your Lab or investment account by sponsoring
others! Plus, you receive a continuing 5% of the earnings of those you sponsor.
Avoid up front costly fees. The Club's membership fee is a low life-time minimal fee with
no assessments or dues. Become a member, fund a minimal Lab account.
Watch your money grow into wealth. You can add more capital when you care to do so.
PREPARE. START NOW
Explore but do not gamble.
Be consistent in savings.
Cut your credit and stop paying interest wherever you can. Follow what your Club is doing.
Enjoy consistent earnings that are paid monthly.
Learn how it is done along with other things we can do to grow our capital. Do not rush.
Don't be in a hurry and do not panic, realizing that perseverance and caution have value.
Work as a club in a learning atmosphere and do not go all over the market looking for deals, exposing ourselves to scams. Nothing could be easier. Take the road to good returns now!
JOIN
FAQS

EARN 2% TO 10% ON YOUR INVESTMENT EACH MONTH... WITH MINIMIMAL RISK

2010-05-19T16:42:00.000-07:00

EARN 2%, 4%, 5%, 8%
OR EVEN MORE EACH MONTH ON YOUR INVESTMENT....WITH MINIMAL RISK

ARIZONA: RESIDECE OF THE WING NUTS.... RIGHT WING, JAN BREWER

2010-04-23T14:19:00.000-07:00

THE GOVERNOR TODAY CAPPED IT ALL.

I tried everything I could to find her party affiliation on the Governor's site, her(JAN BREWER'S) resume and all the pump material. I could tell she was a right wingnut but the associations.. She never had an honest job...has always been hanging around the County Seat, the Legislature and now the Executive Branch of the State's government.

She is a taker... A typical knee jerk Republican. She thinks first of the Party, Herself and maybe the tasks at hand.... a keeper to be remembered at election time.

Lloyd Winburn

OFFSHORE TAX DODGER.

2010-04-22T07:16:00.001-07:00

TAXES ARE NOT FOR REPUBLICANS. CAN'T YOU UNDERSTAND THAT

Billionaire mayor Mike Bloomberg's heart might be in New York, but his bank accounts are in the Cayman Islands, the Observer reports.

As New Yorkers braced for tax hikes in 2008, records show that Bloomberg was hard at work funneling nearly $300 million of his foundation's money into off-shore tax havens, including Cyprus, the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, Mauritius, and Brazil.

All of these countries are notoriously favorable to charities, and many have laws that allow investors to get around U.S. taxes that can run as high as 40 percent. It's unclear whether Bloomberg was doing anything illegal (using tax loopholes is technically within the law), but one thing's for certain:

The optics are not good. While Bloomberg defended the foundation's work as "further[ing] the interests and purposes of the city," so far, "no grants went to organizations directly benefiting New York City." The Observer says that the foundation's financial shadiness is further compounded by the fact that it was managed by Steve Rattner, a financier currently under investigation by New York's attorney general.

Some analysts speculate that Bloomberg's shady financial dealings may be part of his attempt to place himself on equal footing with great American philanthropists in advance of a 2012 presidential run. Bloomberg recently "named a new 19-person board that reads like a who's who of national politics and finance" to his foundation (Jeb Bush, Sam Nunn and Hank Paulson are members), and the organization's lavish new headquarters open today, the Observer reports.

How the revelation could play out is still up in the air, but the findings cast a bad shadow on the rapidly expanding foundation. "I've never seen anything like it," an analyst told the Observer. "It's about as opaque set of investments as you can find.

"READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE
http://www.observer.com/2010/politics/bloomberg%E2%80%99s-offshore-millions?page=0

NEW CAPITAL GROWTH STUDY CLUB IS FOUNDED

2010-04-20T10:10:00.000-07:00

GET YOUR FREE LIFETIME MEMBERSHIP HERE.
There is no liability, no duty... only learn and earn when you wish
We are studying DAY TRADING now and members are earning without risk.

Make a little contribution so we can have the club incorporated into a not for profit no-stock corporation. There are some rules and we are trying to make our club a viable interactive entity with input from members, regular reports and online meetings, and regional conferences. We do not know where it is going but have great hopes of creating a club portfolio to realize 1 to 5 percent each day we trade.

We are working with two experienced traders we know well. This is a way we can take a GOOD Meaningful look before jumping in with any risk at all.

We need members' help in our studies of FOREX, Day Trading, OPTIONS and FUTURES, Market Baskets.
The Web site should be up before the 15th. It is not right that the costs of setting up the web site and getting the corporation established should be paid for by one person... ME. So come aboard, make a little contribution and let us know how you feel you can help. The site will have all the glossaries for matters related to Trading, Stocks, Bonds, Insurance, EXCHANGES, Futures, Options... you will love it.

BY THE WAY. WE HAVE A BOOK Wealth Building Blocks that we can give you with a minimum contribution of $18. And will be happy to do so.

Contact us at 1 919 741 5113....MOUNTAIN TIME, please.

POSITIVE SIGNES FOR RECOVERY AND PREVENTION

2010-04-13T08:55:00.000-07:00

It appears that there are some good minds working in Washington... Things are looking up.

America is close to turning the page on this economic crisis. While far too many Americans are still out of work and face deep economic hardship, we have now reported three quarters of positive growth and the beginnings of job creation. As the economy improves, we are winding down the Troubled Assets Relief Program, and Congress is moving toward enacting the strongest financial reforms since those that followed the Great Depression.

This is from and op-ed article in the Washington POST. Read the entire thing.

Lloyd Winburn

FOLLOW THE MONEY....

2010-03-26T14:54:00.000-07:00

THIS TIME YOU WILL COME OUT LOSER DO MATTER WHAT THE AMOUNT OF MONEY YOU SPEND TO BUY VOTES.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125170643

The health care reform measure passed. It is law. The effort was massive, led by a man who was patient, strong, caring and focused.....

We must be sure we remain vigilant and fight against big money and special interests.

lloyd winburn

ONE MORE GIANT STEP FOR MANKIND

2010-03-23T15:58:00.000-07:00

Get the entire article HERE
The health-care vote: One more step on a long, slow journey
By Richard Cohen

Mitch McConnell is right. The Republican Senate leader, a man whose vision is to deny others theirs, told the New York Times that President Obama's health-care proposal was part of an attempt to "turn us into a Western European country," which, the good Lord willing, is what will now happen. I, for one, could use a dash of Germany, where there are something like 200 private health insurance plans and where everyone is covered and no one goes broke on account of bad health. It's great to be healthy in America, but for too many Americans, it's better to be sick somewhere else.
I would also take France or Switzerland, but mostly I'd like Japan, which I move to Western Europe for the sake of argument, and where medical care is as good (or better) than it is here and much less expensive. What all these countries have in common is the recognition that health care is, like food or education, a universal right. The United States, to McConnell's evident chagrin, is now moving this way.
Do not underestimate the importance of Sunday's House vote. It was momentous, and it will not be repealed by the results of the November elections. Against the hopes and insistence of the GOP, America did not reverse Social Security (as late as the Eisenhower administration, that was the fervent wish of the party's right wing) or Medicaid. The worth of these programs became evident, and thus they became politically sacrosanct.
When Americans figure out that insurance companies can no longer deny them coverage because, as it happens, they urgently need it, and when they discover that their kids can remain covered until age 26 and when they can for the first time afford health insurance themselves, this law will become untouchable. Self-interest usually trumps ideology.
This battle was never entirely about health care. The fury of the opposition -- not a single Republican vote -- is as historically significant as the passage of the legislation itself. There is something cleaving this country, something represented by the election of Barack Obama -- the change he either promised or threatened, take your pick -- and the hyper-exaggeration of the ideological threat the man represented. Caricatured as a socialist, a radical, a hard-left liberal and even an alien, he is actually the very soul of center-left moderation, cautious to a fault.
It is the same with the health-care package itself. Whatever it is, it is not socialism. For all the fulminations about the American free enterprise system, private insurance companies are retained. The government will not do what governments all over the world do -- provide either health insurance or health care itself. Does the legislation provide for a government role? Yes. But there is a government role in virtually everything -- or haven't you noticed the tag on your pillow?
The reason this fight took so long is that the culture is about evenly divided. It's not that the political system is broken. On the contrary, it's not supposed to work without consensus. It did as designed -- marched in place and bided its time until Sunday, when it moved just a bit. Consider how long it has taken. Harry Truman wanted this bill.

GUN TOTERS IN UTAH: Vigilantes on the Move

2010-03-20T10:53:00.001-07:00

ALL YOU GUN FREAKS can now name a Post Office after someone..

Vigilantes in the Gun World.

Get the detains here

Lloyd Winburn

BARELY HANGING ON: Health Care Needed NOW!

2010-03-17T11:45:00.000-07:00

GET THE FACTS
They may affect you.

The Census Bureau estimates that more than 46 million Americans are uninsured.

A new report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation finds that middle class Americans are the ones "losing their health insurance faster than any other income group," the Huffington Post reported.

Lower income earners, if dropped from an employer-sponsored program, are likely to be covered by Medicaid, a government program.

Only two-thirds of people considered to be in the middle class—those whose families earn between $45,000 and $85,000 per year—are covered by an employer-sponsored plan.

And "for a lot of middle class Americans, the individual market is not a real option," said Brian Quinn, Robert Wood Johnson's research and evaluation officer. (A PDF of the complete report can be viewed here.)

Lloyd Winburn from SLATE

MY SISTER DID

2010-03-12T09:38:00.000-08:00

You might find my poetry interesting or even enjoyable. Go to www.writers-network.com and search my name: Lloyd Winburn

Here is an example... very personal, of family and non fiction.

MY SISTER DID

No, that is not an unfinished line
Did was my sister's name.
She was a year and a few month
older than I, having been born in 1926.
In the third grade I learned her full name
When the teacher asked us to name our siblings.
I said Did and everyone laughed
And someone who knew said, It's Willie Lee.

Did was spontaneous, nervous and surely she
Should have been diagnosed ADHD,
Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder,
A term not around so we all called it
St. Vitis' Dance
Which it really wasn't.
She moved all the time, very busy, very involved.
And just could not be still.
Later on coming down and surviving meningitis.

When I went off to high school
She had disappeared into the adult world
Married to a California man who loved young girls.
They had a child, the center of Did's attention
She grew into her teens and brought to adulthood
By events difficult to mention.
In a phone call from Did I learned of molestation
By the father whose affliction was young girls
A sickness that kept him from realizing the evil
Of his intentions.

The Dad sought help and Did hung on until,
She said, things became unbearable, because
The father had strayed and wanted to marry
Another young girl.
That was not before the second child was born,
A child with a mal-formed heart.
Struggle they did, pouring out love to their
Two daughters, one growing up deep, dark and moody,
The younger ill and destined for and early demise.
God gave the baby an unsurpassed beauty and intelligence
All the more to make the loss more bitter.

Divorce against her Faith, Did sought an annulment
Which was properly granted.
She worked hard and succeeded making friends and
Providing for the older girl who was caught up in the
Times of the Sixties.
Having been Willie Lee Winburn Hilmer, Did soon to on
The name of Crandall.
In this marriage there was a haven of happiness marred by
Alcoholism of a talented husband who gave her everything.
She was a dutiful wife and reciprocated in kind to make
Her mate happy.
The alcoholic became abusive to a point where Did had to leave,
The daughter long ago on her on by choice moving
In her own lost world. Out of sight for me, out of contact.

Did found good friends and rose to a job that paid well
In a large firm where there were people who cared.
She was attacked by an illness, wrongfully diagnosed
As chronic gastritis.
Later as she suffered horribly and was hospitalized
The proper diagnosis eluded the professionals and they
Cut her open to find the source of her problem.
Encountering a cancer of the uterus in a hopeless stage
The sewed her up and sent her home in a sad rage.

For over a year she was in my home where we gave her
The master bedroom to accommodate her and the
Full time attendants she required.
Her months, days and hours were painful and she
Suffered with calm resolution. There was not secret
Of a pending early death.
The priest came regularly, the Deacon brought the Host.
Visits by her niece and nephews, my three kids still
There at home eased somewhat her loneliness and
Despair that accompanied the absense of her daughter.

She died. A nurse was in attendance. Friends flocked in.
He daughter showed up to take control of matters
Which were readily relinquished by my us,
My wife Mary and me.
There was a Mass and and a Rosary, There was
Sadness and a large hole in my life where there was
My sister Did.

THE MOST ASTUTE, CALM ANALYSES OF AMERICA'S DEBT

2010-03-08T08:20:00.000-08:00

FORBES MAGAZINE HAS JUST PUBLISHED THIS ARTICLE BY BRUCE BARTLETT, who is a former Treasury Department economist and the author of Reaganomics: Supply-Side Economics in Action and Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy. His new book is The New American Economy: The Failure of Reaganomics and a New Way Forward. He writes a weekly column for Forbes.

It is a long and well written article every layman can understand. I recommend that you read it.
http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/04/consumer-debt-deficit-budget-opinions-columnists-bruce-bartlett.html?partner=weekly_newsletter"

If that does not work for you, go to FORBES.COM WEEKLY NEWSLETTER MARCH 08, 2010

This is proof positive that these are not the best of our times nor are these the worst of our times.

Lloyd Winburn

WRITER'S BLOCK

2010-02-26T10:41:00.000-08:00

IT SEEMS THE REPUBLICANS HAVE
WRITER'S BLOCK

On the day of the D.C. Conference on Health Care Reform
I was able to catch most of the presentation.
It lasted over 6 hours with no new ideas born;
But, being the Political Junkie and History Buff I am,
I could not get enough of the stuff.

It was easy to project and to understand.
The players had their positions staked out well.
The President was looking for facts
And was hopeful that some suggestions
Would come forth and stalemate attached.

One Party expressed themselves
In a large tome
They had developed over many hours
Of work, debate, give and take.
In pieces, all of it had gone before
Committees and was argued on the floor of each Chamber.

Everyone agreed: Something has to be done.
The other Party wanted to dump that work
And start anew.
Opponents who said that, were not a few.
It seemed to me that something was missing;
As to what it was, at the moment I had not a clue.

Now, as I understand it, the Lower House must
Generate all the money bills;
The upper house exists to 'Advise and Consent.”
That seemed to be lost in the day's milieu.
But both House's minority crew
Faced before a blank sheet but failed to offer anything new.

Throughout the day
There was a tendency to stray
And not to pay proper attention
To the issue at hand,
The question to attend:
Where can we agree? Where have we been?

It was a genteel group
With everyone on his or her best behavior
But the writer's block caused the day
To be just one more display
Of ambition run amok and
Opportunity set aside and Hell to pay.

Lloyd
2/26/2010

ALL THE LIES AND HYPOCRISY OUT THERE

2010-02-21T10:04:00.000-08:00

ALL THAT REPUBLICAN, RIGHT WING, RELIGIOUS EXTREMIST HYPOCRISY UN MASKED:

Speaking at an ultra-conservative conference, Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty attacked the Recovery Act and said "we can't spend more than we have" -- even though he couldn't balance his state budget without dipping into Recovery Act funds.

It's just another hypocritical attack from a party that is more interested in partisan gridlock than putting Americans back to work.

Meanwhile, Like a captain taking his ship over trouble seas, the President says firm, on course and steady.... dependable.

Lloyd Winburn

CITIES OF THE WORLD

2010-02-16T15:56:00.000-08:00

WHERE I HAVE BEEN

Create your own travel map or travel blog

Top vacation rentals at TripAdvisor

Blackwater Employees Accuse Security Contractor of Defrauding Government

2010-02-12T09:48:00.000-08:00

HOW LONG IS IT GOING TO TAKE....To get that Blackwater bunch out of our way....

READ the STORY
If the story does ot appear, use the link below.

That Dallas/Texas bunch of thieves has stolen millions and killed countless civilians and innocents.

They are doing it in OUR name, on our TAX DOLLARS.

Anyway, we should not hire mercenaries to fight our wars. If the war is justified, then we must take on the burden of sending our citizen army to do it.

Take part in reform.... Write you Representative and Senators and demand action designed to get rid of Blackwater and all the other mercenaries.

Lloyd Winburn

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/11/AR2010021100232.html?wpisrc=nl_politics

WANT MORE UNCONTROLLED CAPITALISM?

2009-12-24T05:29:00.001-08:00

This was gleaned from SLATE who got it from the NY Times.

Banks Won Big By Betting Against Own Securities

Investigators in Congress, at the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority are looking at how several banks—including Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and Deutsche Bank—sold complicated mortgage-backed securities, known as collateralized debt obligations, and whether they broke the law by pushing them on clients and betting against them at the same time. The banks insist they were just doing what any prudent investor would do by trying to protect themselves from losses. But they ended up using the CDOs "to place unusually large negative bets that were not mainly for hedging purposes," which many say ended up putting the banks "at odds with their own clients' interests," reports the New York Times. In fact, part of the reason why Goldman and so many others from Wall Street have been able to return to profitability so quickly is that they essentially began to change their stance on the housing market at the end of 2006 but kept that to themselves. There's perhaps no better example of this practice than a set of mortgage-related securities named Abacus created by Goldman Sachs that allowed investors to bet for or against mortgage securities using credit-default swaps. But instead of trying to persuade clients to bet negatively on Abacus securities, Goldman kept the negative bets. Perhaps most disturbingly of all, some of these CDOs, including Abacus, seemed designed to fail.

REGULATIONS? Any body? Do you still get fuzzy and warm when you think of unfettered Capitalism?

ENEMY WITHIN: JOE ARAPIO. THIEF OF FREEDOM WHO SMOTHERS INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS

2009-12-12T09:04:00.000-08:00

JOE ARPAIO:
HE WOULD TEAR DOWN OUR SYSTEM, DESTROY OUR CONSTITUTION TO SPITE HIS OPPONENTS
His practices have been criticized by organizations such as Amnesty International,^[3] the American Civil Liberties Union, the Arizona Ecumenical Council, the American Jewish Committee,^[4] and the Arizona chapter of the Anti-Defamation League.^[5] The editorial board of The New York Times called Arpaio "America's Worst Sheriff".^[6]

Arizona sheriff ups the ante against his foes

By Nicholas Riccardi

Joe Arpaio has escalated his tactics, not only defying the federal government on immigration but launching repeated investigations of those who criticize him.

Inland Z: In the name of our National Security

2009-12-03T17:20:00.000-08:00

Inland Z: In the name of our National Security

TURN TO BOOKS

2009-12-02T08:14:00.000-08:00

ON SUBJECTS DEAR TO OUR HEART:

GO HERE

TIME TO TAKE A NEW LOOK AT HENRY GEORGE

2009-12-01T11:22:00.000-08:00

MANY FACTORS ARE INDICATIVE OF OUR NEED FOR CHANGE IN TAXING POLICY.

Statement of purpose

In accordance with the philosophy of Henry George, the Henry George Institute holds that all persons have a right to the use of the earth and that all have a right to the fruits of their labor. To implement these rights it is proposed that the rent of land be taken by the community as public revenue, and that all taxes on labor and the fruits of labor be abolished. The Institute believes with George that "liberty means justice and justice is the natural law," and that the social and economic ills besetting the world today are the result of non-conformance to natural law. The Institute pledges itself to bring this philosophy to the attention of the public by all suitable means.

See what it can mean to Latin America.... LAND REFORM, LIBERATION THEOLOGY

I Believe:
Lloyd Winburn

BRIBES BY BLACKWATER IN IRAQ

2009-11-11T07:38:00.000-08:00

Blackwater Approved Bribes for Iraqi Officials

After a group of Blackwater security guards opened fire in a Baghdad square and killed 17 civilians, the company found itself mired in a public relations disaster. The episode raised the ire of Iraqi civilians and officials, which suddenly raised the prospect that Blackwater could be prevented from operating in the country, threatening the existence of contracts worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Three months after the Nisour Square shootings, the company authorized about $1 million in bribes to buy the silence of Iraqi officials. When news of the decision spread within the company, it created a huge rift among senior officials. Still, the man who was then Blackwater's president decided to go ahead with the bribes and sent the money from Jordan to Iraq. But the four former executives who revealed the information to the New York Times say they can't be certain the money ever reached Iraqi officials.

Read original story in The New York Times | Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2009 CLICK

DEDICATION

2009-10-18T09:09:00.000-07:00

Dedicated in loving memory to Mary Esther Gaffney Winburn
Wife of Lloyd Winburn
Mother of Mark Vincent, Craig Voorhees and Mary Jennifer Winburn de Lima
Grandmother of Anthony Philip, Gregory Alexander and Katarina Maria de Lima
Olivia Kristin, Ryanne Elizabeth and Garrett William Winburn

WHERE DO WE HAVE OUR HEAD?

2009-10-10T17:09:00.000-07:00

The Head of Amnesty International Quits, gives up, calls the organization's efforts a failure.

90% OF THEM INNOCENT!

The Place of the Ravens, 30km west of Baghdad, has long been of interest to civil liberties groups. The largest prison in Iraq, built in the 1960s by British contractors, has for decades generated stories of abuse, not least under Saddam Hussein, who kept as many as 15,000 people imprisoned there. But it was in 2004, when pictures of offences ranging from the grossly humiliating to murderous leaked out, that the jail's name became a byword for torture – Abu Ghraib.

The abiding image of that period is of a hooded detainee, standing on a box and draped in sack cloth, with electrodes attached to his fingers and testicles as if he is about to be shocked. Other pictures show grinning guards with naked prisoners in degrading poses. Reports of beatings, rapes and deaths were described by the US army's own investigation as "credible". The commanding officer of Abu Ghraib, Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, who was demoted to colonel for failing to stop the abuses, later said that 90 per cent of the Iraqi prisoners were innocent.

Read the whole story and weep..http:
//www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/ir

PRISON AND DRUG REHABILITATION

2009-09-24T09:21:00.000-07:00

PRISON SECURITY AND EFFECTIVE PRISON MANAGEMENT
From a Blog worth tracking.....

Does a snake understand how an eagle flies?

The snake has no conception of the thing, but it DOES know that the flying creature above is a danger to it. Well, that's how it is with the prison system and an honest prisoner. They have no idea what to do about him but do understand the fact that he is dangerous. The danger comes not from the honesty but from the attitude of those running things in the prison system. And I do not mean the ordinary kangaroo who has to deal with prisoners on a daily basis. Oh no, most of them do their best. It is the upper echelons who sneak about in dark corners, whispering behind their hands and misleading, lying and backstabbing. How high up the food chain they climb actually depends on their ability to lie and mislead.

Let me give a perfect example of this. Every prison security department knows the identity of every junkie and dealer within its environs, but do they give them weekly drug tests? Do they hell. They give weekly tests to the prisoners they KNOW do NOT take drugs because that gives them a good figure for their quarterly report on drug management policies. 1t is a fraud, smoke and mirrors to fool the general public. "Look!" they cry. "Our test figures show that we are sucessfully tackling the drug problem!"

All lies of course. They make no attempt whatsoever to tackle the drug problem, not so much as lift a finger. In fact it is quite the opposite because they actively encourage drug taking as a control measure.

They deal in a murky world as second nature! This is why they have no idea what to do when they come up against an honest man. They have no reference points to work from.

Now, having said all I have said, it will be seen as subversive and troublemaking. It's not their fault, it never is, it has to be the fault of the prisoner.

Wasn't it John Locke who wrote:

"It is one thing to show a man that he is in error, and another to put him in possession of truth."

The Voice In The Wilderness

...And well said. Lloyd Winburn

WE ARE DRIFTING TO ANARCHY

2009-09-15T09:05:00.000-07:00

THE TRUE RACE IS BETWEEN AMERICAN STYLE DEMOCRACY AND TOTALITARIANISM

(See FORGES magazine for this week September 14, 2009) But

JUST LET ME ADD

The current disgusting behavior of the FAR RIGHT *Republicans* is more harmful to our Democracy than all the dictators in the world. Hate, envy, unbridled racism, suspicion,distrust, misguided religious fervor, intolerance of others' opinions, selfishness are enough to smother any progrissive movement upward.

Lloyd Winburn

America's durable democratic institutions, due process, independent judiciary and freedom of speech, religion and press are the reason its economy accounts for 23% of world gross domestic product; why 65% of world reserves are in the U.S. dollar; why 17 of the top 20 universities are in America; why we lead in global innovation with 92,000 patents awarded to Americans in 2008; why we lead in global philanthropy and conservation; why we have the deepest financial markets; and why our naval tonnage is larger than the next 17 navies combined.

Our democratic form of government supports and reflects our culture of optimism, openness, transparency, mobility and flexibility.

China's autocratic form of government reflects its closed and suspicious nature and the interests of the leadership of the Communist party, a body Friedman describes as a "reasonably enlightened group of people."

In my view, it is anything but and its stubborn insistence on keeping control of its economy and political system will in the end prove to be its downfall.

Thanks to FORBES

A CALL TO PATROTIC WOMEN

2009-09-14T13:20:00.001-07:00

WOMEN OF THE WORLD, UNITE! YOU HOLD OUR PEACE BETWEEN YOUR LEGS

A Sure Way to Peace:

Lysistrata ("Army-disbander") is one of the few surviving plays written by the master of Old Comedy, Aristophanes.
Originally performed in classical Athens in 411 BC, it is a comic account of one woman's extraordinary mission to end The Peloponnesian War.
Lysistrata convinces the women of Greece to withhold sexual privileges from their husbands as a means of forcing the men to negotiate a peace, a strategy however that inflames the battle between the sexes.
The play is notable for its exposé of sexual relations in a male-dominated society and for its use of both double entendre and explicit obscenities.

For PEACE we need all the tools we can get. Women, focus upon your power.

READ ON:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lysistrata

TOP SAIL ISLAND FOR THE WINBURNS 2006

2009-09-02T15:16:00.000-07:00

THIS WAS THE YEAR STEVEN WEEKE AND HIS FAMILY JOINED US, ALONG WITH OTHERS. MARK DID THE VIDEO.

REALLY AN END OF AN ERA

2009-08-26T10:20:00.000-07:00

THE KENNEDY BOYS.

I had the pleasure and fun of working with the three: Jack, Robert and Teddy. I had personal contact with each, though ever so briefly.

It seems all the fellows in the campaigns have gone on... Jesse Unruh; Paul Ziffren, Pierre Salinger, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr, Pat Brown, Adlai Stevenson, Andrew Hatcher... there were so many.

The sands of Time drop o, so constantly.

Lloyd Winburn

2009-08-24T08:14:00.000-07:00

GET THE KIDS OFF THE STREETS

2009-08-22T09:16:00.000-07:00

GIVE THEM EXPERIENCES TO STRENGTHEN THEIR BACKBONE

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-fg-korea-bootcamp22-2009aug22,0,2245459.story?track=ntothtml

South Korean kids get a taste of boot camp Check this out at the LA TIMES

These youths aren't delinquents -- most are sent by parents who realize that their pampered offspring need more discipline to become better students and grow into conscientious adults.

CIVIL WORKS ADMINISTRATION WORKED THEN

2009-08-15T14:13:00.000-07:00

NOW, THANK GOODNESS, WE DO NOT HAVE TO HAVE IT.
You need to read it all to fully understand.... The problem today is: We only read the headlines or catch the 30 second TV news spot....

Lloyd Winburn

CIVIL WORKS ADMINISTRATION (CWA)

The Civil Works Administration (CWA), created in the fall of 1933 and disbanded the following spring, was the first, public employment experiment of the New Deal. At its peak in January of 1934, CWA employed approximately four million workers. The program initiated many projects that later were absorbed by the Works Progress Administration (WPA, 1935 to 1941). Perhaps most importantly, CWA took several million relief recipients off of the federal "dole" and gave them employment and regular wages.

The CWA reflected the values of Franklin D. Roosevelt and his relief administrator Harry Hopkins, both of whom favored employment over direct relief. Both feared that the federal relief program (FERA) would institutionalize a permanent national "dole." During the summer of 1933, the New Deal had reduced the federal relief caseload significantly and forced some states to finance a larger share of the relief burden. But both the caseload and federal expenditures threatened to rise again during the coming winter. In late October, Hopkins's assistant Aubrey Williams prevailed on Hopkins to propose a dramatic expansion of public employment. The program would take large numbers of "employable" recipients off the relief rolls and also employ several million unemployed workers who were not on relief. The program would be financed by the large unexpended balances of the New Deal's slow-moving public works program, the PWA. Hopkins presented the plan to Roosevelt on October 29. The president stunned Hopkins by immediately accepting the extraordinary proposal. The CWA was one of the most dramatic policy experiments of the New Deal era. Between November 1, when the program was announced, and December 15, approximately three and a half million workers were placed on hastily constructed federal projects. In mid-November, a large portion of federal resources was devoted entirely to issuing the first CWA paychecks. Although civil works drew on the staff and resources of the federal relief program, state Civil Works administrations hired engineers, efficiency experts, and professionals in the field of labor relations, making the program much more like public employment than work relief. Workers were paid regular wages and were not supervised by social workers.

During its brief lifetime CWA workers built approximately 500,000 miles of roads and worked on thousands of schools, airports, and playgrounds. Reflecting a gendered division of labor, CWA employed women in primitive workshops, sewing garments for the unemployed. Although civil works absorbed many projects from work relief programs established earlier in the Depression, a key goal of CWA was to move beyond traditional "made work" to projects of permanent value. The program's pioneering "Civil Works Service" program for "white collar" professionals produced surveys of coastlines, harbors, and public buildings. The CWA employed artists, musicians, and actors on projects that were precursors to the more well known WPA arts projects.

The CWA was enormously popular. Hopkins later estimated that approximately ten million workers "walked up to a window and stood in line, many of them all night, asking for a [CWA] job." The program also generated significant support in Congress for a permanent federal employment program. But the growing political support for CWA alarmed may New Deal officials, who feared that public employment would become an expensive "habit" and create a permanent drain on the federal treasury. Fiscal conservatives within the New Deal, led by Bureau of the Budget Director Lewis Douglas, successfully lobbied Roosevelt to discontinue the program in the early spring of 1934.

The mercurial history of CWA once led historians to view the program as a noble but haphazard experiment, plagued by corruption and inefficiency. Recent research, however, has suggested that projects were relatively well run, free of graft, and represented a significant improvement over traditional "made work." Perhaps most important, the CWA experiment greatly increased support for public employment, creating pressure both within the New Deal and in Congress for the administration to end the general relief grant program and launch the WPA in 1935.

A NEW APPROACH; A NEW AGE, A GREAT NEED

2009-08-10T12:00:00.000-07:00

WE HAVE TO BITE THE BULLET

IT IS TIME
There must be a restructuring of the health care system... the industry.
There must be PUBLIC SECTOR participation:

Everyone must be covered.
Everyone must pay something.
Government participation will bring down costs
This will pay for the coverage of the low end (poverty level or uninsured)
Those who want to "keep their doctor on his welfare program" can pay more.
Cap the liability of professionals and medical facilities
Criminalize mal practice. Gross negligence is an unforgivable situation.
Encourage coop, innovative, prevention, self insurance, approaches
Do it all at once
Include a tax package that balances the system with present day costs and hold the line
Help people wanting to enter the medical profession... make them do public service for the help but must pay back the loans, grants, etc.
Reward innovation
Encourage healthy living measures... it does not cost... it PAYS.
Put the schools back into the personal hygiene situation with required courses
Every child must exercise at school.. That old time gym class. No substitutes like math, marching, or cooking
Enhance education in ways that get more hours to dedicate to health care, family planning, diets and eating, and keeps kids away from the TV and off the streets.

Go get it.

Lloyd Winburn

NEW STUDY ON CANCER FROM JOHNS HOPKINS

2009-08-10T08:49:00.000-07:00

CANCER IS NOT GOOD FOR YOUR HEALTH

John Hopkins Update

After years of telling people chemotherapy is the only way to try ('try', being the key word) to eliminate cancer, Johns Hopkins is finally starting to tell you there is an alternative way.

Cancer Update from Johns Hopkins:

1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion. When doctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable size.

2. Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a person's lifetime.

3 When the person's immune system is strong the cancer cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and forming tumors.

4. When a person has cancer it indicates the person has multiple nutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetic, environmental, food and lifestyle factors..

5. To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing diet and including supplements will strengthen the immune system.

6. Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly-growing cancer cells and also destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells in the bone marrow, gastrointestinal tract etc, and can cause organ damage, like liver, kidneys, heart, lungs etc.

7. Radiation while destroying cancer cells also burns, scars and damages healthy cells, tissues and organs...

8. Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often reduce tumor size. However prolonged use of chemotherapy and radiation do not result in more tumor destruction.

9. When the body has too much toxic burden from chemotherapy and radiation the immune system is either compromised or destroyed, hence the person can succumb to various kinds of infections and complications.

10. Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to mutate and become resistant and difficult to destroy. Surgery can also cause cancer cells to spread to other sites.

11. An effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer cells by not feeding it with the foods it needs to multiply.

CANCER CELLS FEED ON:

A. Sugar is a cancer-feeder. By cutting off sugar it cuts off one important food supply to the cancer cells. Sugar substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc are made with Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute would be Manuka honey or molasses but only in very small amounts. Table salt has a chemical added to make it white in color. Better alternative is Bragg's aminos or sea salt.

B. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the gastro-intestinal tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting off milk and substituting with unsweetened soy milk cancer cells are being starved.

C. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based diet is acidic and it is best to eat fish, and a little chicken rather than beef or pork. Meat also contains livestock antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all harmful, especially to people with cancer.

D. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole grains, seeds, nuts and a little fruits help put the body into an alkaline environment.. About 20% can be from cooked food including beans. Fresh vegetable juices provide live enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to cellular levels within 15 minutes to nourish and enhance growth of healthy cells. To obtain live enzymes for building healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable juice (most vegetables including bean sprouts) and eat some raw vegetables 2 or 3 times a day.. Enzymes are destroyed at temperatures of 104 degrees F (40 degrees C).

E. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high caffeine. Green tea is a better alternative and has cancer fighting properties. Water-best to drink purified water, or filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tap water. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it.

12. Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of digestive enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the intestines becomes putrefied and leads to more toxic buildup.

13. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By refraining from or eating less meat it frees more enzymes to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and allows the body's killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.

14. Some supplements build up the immune system (IP6, Flor-ssence, Essiac, anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals, EFAs etc.) to enable the bodies own killer cells to destroy cancer cells. Other supplements like vitamin E are known to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body's normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or unneeded cells.

15. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit. A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior be a survivor. Anger, un-forgiveness and bitterness put the Bo dy into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy life.

16. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated environment. Exercising daily, and deep breathing help to get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer cells.

1. No plastic containers in micro.

2. No water bottles in freezer.

3. No plastic wrap in microwave.

Johns Hopkins has recently sent this out in its newsletters and this information is being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as well.

Dioxin chemicals cause cancer, especially breast cancer. Dioxins are highly poisonous to the cells of our bodies.

Don't freeze your plastic bottles with water in them as this releases dioxins from the plastic. Recently, Dr. Edward Fujimoto, Wellness Program Manager at Cast le Hospital, was on a TV program to explain this health hazard. He talked about dioxins and how bad they are for us.

He said that we should not be heating our food in the microwave using plastic containers.. This especially applies to foods that contain fat. He said that the combination of fat, high heat, and plastics releases dioxin into the food and ultimately into the cells of the body.

Instead, he recommends using glass, such as Corning Ware, Pyrex or ceramic containers for heating food You get the same results, only without the dioxin.

So such things as TV dinners, instant ramen and soups, etc., should be removed from the container and heated in something else.

Paper isn't bad but you don't know what is in the paper. It's just safer to use tempered glass, Corning Ware, etc. He reminded us that a while ago some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper. The dioxin problem is one of the reasons.

Also, he pointed out that plastic wrap, such as Saran, is just as dangerous when placed over foods to be cooked in the microwave. As the food is nuked, the high heat causes poisonous toxins to actually melt out of the plastic wrap and drip into the food.. Cover food with a paper towel instead.

Good eating.....

Lloyd Winburn

CLINTON IN NORTH KOREA

2009-08-04T14:37:00.000-07:00

NOW, THAT IS DIPLOMACY.

If your enemies are hungry, give them bread to eat;
and if they are thirsty, give them water to drink;
for you will heap coals of fire on their heads,
and the Lord will reward you.

- Proverbs 25:21-22

Kill them with kindness. It works and costs little

Remember the statement of Franklin D. Roosevelt:

I have seen war. I have seen war on land and sea.... I have seen the dead in the mud. I have seen cities destroyed.... I have seen children starving. I have seen the agony of mothers and wives. I hate war.

- Franklin Delano Roosevelt,
FDR Memorial, Washington, D.C.

NO ON BANKRUPTCY. YES ON STAYING OUR OF COURT

2009-07-31T13:37:00.000-07:00

OUT ON A LIMB?

WE HAVE HELP FOR YOU!
Feel as though you are out on a financial limb? Take it easy. Think through your situation and move to save your assets; Do not expose yourself to the risk of jail; Stop all the harassment. Build for a new start.

Read David Van Dyke's book:
Thinking Bankruptcy? Don't
E-Book On Line for Only $12.00

ALTERNATIVE TO BANKRUPTCY

2009-07-19T10:04:00.000-07:00

MAYBE YOU ARE OUT ON A LIMB, BROKE, UNDER PRESSURE, STRAPPED FINANCIALLY...

Well, you are just one more in the crowd. Many are looking for a way out or a way up. Some even consider sideway in the job market.

What ever. ARE THINKING BANKRUPTCY? DON'T! Join the hundreds or even thousands who are going straight in the face of creditors and their misfortunes. In doing so, they are saving much or many of their assets, avoiding legal fees, court costs, expert fees, appraisal fees, and a lot of time and headaches.

THERE IS AN ALTERNATIVE TO BANKRUPTCY..... In this book, the alternative is spelled out in honest, factual, realistic terms. MAKE YOURSELF A HERO.

Lloyd Winburn

GREAT BOOK ON MARIJUANA AND ILLEGAL ALIENS

2009-07-07T08:29:00.000-07:00

MALVADO: The Life and Times of John Manuel Solis as told to Lloyd Winburn

The REAL LIFE story, all true; Brutal, educational, historical, interesting, instructive, informative... these words all fit into the description.

Recounting the movement of 40,000 tons of marijuana and hundreds of illegal aliens across the Mexican/USA border and through the Marine Corps Base at Oceanside includes three murders, millions of dollars squandered, many women and much sex. It is a story of adventure and tragedy, love, intrigue, deceit, treachery, rape and injustice.

Look for your name if you live in Orange County and went to school there.

Now for sale: Buy the book and get immediate access to the e-Book on line manuscript. When the book is published later this year, you will receive a First Edition copy, numbered and signed by the author.

Your purchase means a contribution to www.Paracletefoundation.org

CAPITALISM UNCHECKED CAN BE EVIL

2009-04-06T08:18:00.000-07:00

JUDGE IS FINED AND JAILED FOR EXERCISING EXCESSIVE CAPITALISM

When you throw the prison system into the capitalistic free for all, that is what you get... Judges in jail. Judges are bribed to sentence juvenile offenders to jail.... Throw away the key. We can make some money and will be happy to share it with the judge.

Prisons and juvenile correctional centers have been "privatized".... that is a word for capitalized. Now there are lobbyists manipulating politicians for more money for more prison facilities to be built and put under the control of private contractors.

Naturally, the same capital interests are there to support the incarceration of more and more people. They need a continuing stream to meet the capitalistic metre of continuing growth and bottom line strength.

So put more people in jail and make prison terms mandatory and long termed.

American style.

Lloyd

THE US OWNS 80% OF AIG

2009-03-17T11:00:00.000-07:00

IF THE US OWNS 80% of AIG LET'S QUIT BICKERING...

We should put in new management, go for a strong bottom line and sell the monster to the public... all the while making a good profit.

A new start, a clean star, a profit in the end.

Lloyd

GET THE PICTURE

2009-02-17T18:27:00.000-08:00

BE A REPUBLICAN... GO TO CONGRESS. IF YOU CANNOT GET WHAT YOU WANT, VOTE AGAINST IT. THEN, PRAY THAT PROBLEMS WILL NOT BE SOLVED SO YOU CAN WIN AGAINST YOUR OPONENTS WHO ARE WORKING TO RESCUE THE COUNTRY.

REPUBLICANS CANNOT FAIL.... If failing is what they want.

Republicans seemed to bet the future on a daring gambit: By unflinchingly opposing a popular president on the issue Americans care most about, they apparently hope to place responsibility for reviving the economy squarely on Obama's back.

So, the vote NO and sit back and pray that the Obama plan does not work.... Anything to get things going their way again.

Lloyd Winburn

PART OF THE CORRUPTION OF CAPITALISM

2009-02-14T11:22:00.000-08:00

FROM SLATE.COM

Two Pennsylvania county judges stand accused of sending thousands of teenagers to juvenile prison in exchange for $2.6 million in bribes from the privately run detention facilities.

Now I tell you that private prisons are breeding grounds for corruption of the system. The owners and operators of these entities have knobbiest in DC and in State Capitols working for bosses who profit from long sentences. Prisons are exclusively the responsibility of Government.. That does not make is socialism.

OBAMA'S GREAT GIVE AWAY: A NECESSARY EVIL

2009-01-29T06:55:00.000-08:00

LET THOSE WHO CAUSED THE PROBLEM PAYA THE BILL.... That is, if you can find them.

JOBLESS, WORKING POOR, FAILING BUSINESSES BENEFIT

Here are highlights of the $819 billion recovery plan passed by the House. Totals below are not exact because some costs were still being estimated Wednesday night, or are carried over several years.

SPENDING: $544 billion
New spending includes:

* $71.5 billion: Extend and raise jobless benefits through 2009; boost aid to poor, including food stamps.
* $153.2 billion: Subsidize health care coverage for jobless, help states with Medicaid, other health programs.
* $103 billion: Fund construction projects and repairs: highways, bridges, mass transit, federal buildings, water.
* $159 billion: Provide school grants, aid to states, other school programs; boost Pell Grants by $500, to $5,350.
* $53.4 billion: Support science facilities, high-speed Internet, other environmental, energy programs.
* $13 billion: Repair and weatherize public housing, help homeless, repair foreclosed homes.

TAX CUTS: $275 billion
Tax cuts include:

* $145 billion: Enact $500-per-worker, $1,000-per-couple tax cuts for two years.
* $23 billion: Expand $1,000-per-child tax credit and earned-income tax credit to more working poor.
* $10.3 billion: Provide $2,500 tax credit for college.
* $6.9 billion: Homeowner tax credits.
* $20 billion: Extend quicker write-offs for depreciation of equipment; help companies losing money.

Increase: $7 billion over 10 years
Tighten rules on firms that buy failing banks and merge them.

$48.5 billion: Subsidize local bonds for schools, infrastructure, economic development; extend energy tax credits.

Sources: USA TODAY research, The Associated Press

THE FIRST DAY

2009-01-22T07:14:00.000-08:00

THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION GETS STARTED..... On the right foot...

Orders to the troops... Government staff: ETHIC RULES

The lobbying rules announced yesterday aim to end what has become a way of life in Washington, where those serving in an administration collect chits that are quickly cashed in once they depart government. Under the new rules, presidential appointees who leave office will not be allowed to lobby any federal agency as long as Obama remains in office.

"It's not about advantaging yourself. It's not about advancing your friends or your corporate clients. It's not about advancing an ideological agenda or the special interests of any organization," Obama told Cabinet members and senior staff at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. "Public service is, simply and absolutely, about advancing the interests of Americans."

Good Work so far.... Lloyd Winburn

EACH OF US IS GUILTY. WE DO NOTHING

2009-01-13T09:00:00.000-08:00

IF YOU THINK WE CAN JUST SIT BY WHILE THE WORLD PLUNGES INTO TIME-ENDING WAR, Capitalism run rampant and politicians continue to practice sloth, thievery, lies and indifference, you are wrong....

I don't believe that the big men, the politicians and the capitalists alone, are guilty of the war. Oh no, the little man is just as guilty, otherwise the peoples of the world would have risen in revolt long ago!

- Anne Frank,
The Diary of a Young Girl

Think of what you can do.... Stop spending recklessly, selfishly, ignorantly.... Press the politicians to act to correct the excesses in spending, in regulation ( or lack there of) and do the people's business with dignity, honesty, resolve and faith without all the hollow religion retoric...
]
We are doomed othewise.

Lloyd Winburn

AVOIDING THE BLAME NET

2008-12-09T08:15:00.000-08:00

Corporate Directors seem to be the only group to escape the Blame Net. The economy has gone to hell, CEOs and Chairmen are taking their hit.

Where are the Directors? This group of well paid of the supposedly experts in their field have not come to the surface.

These people, some of whom own very little of the company on whose Board of Directors they sit, receive good fees and lots of perks. Too often they are only cronies of the CEO or Chairman rewarded for their friendship and inattentive to the details of the management of the company... yes men for the Upper Management.

On and average women earn about $140,000 a year with men earning less, about 120,000 dollars a year. You can be sure they get first class treatment as members of the Board at an additional considerable expense to the company.

What do they do? Where have they been? Do they not have some responsibility?

Lloyd Winburn

MCCAIN CAUGHT AGAIN IN AN UNTRUTH

2008-10-28T09:01:00.000-07:00

Opinion FROM Los Angeles TIMES---

McCain's science earmark error

Millions to study grizzly bear DNA is 'a waste of money,' McCain says. Wrong.

By Lawrence M. Krauss
October 28, 2008

Read teh entire story http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-krauss28-2008oct28,0,7952889.story?track=ntothtml

Study how easy it is to make a Sin out of a proper act.....

Lloyd

TRUTH AND JUSTICE

2008-10-27T09:23:00.000-07:00

Truth and Justice..... They are natural for each other

Peace is the experience of justice, and you can't have justice without truth.

- Ray McGovern,
Activist and former CIA analyst

In the few years that come you will hear much more about Justice.... Visit http://www.paracletefoundation.org

Lloyd Winburn

CHANGES IN WASHINGTON HOLD PROMISE

2008-10-16T08:43:00.000-07:00

IT IS TIME TO CHANGE THE SENTENCING PRACTICE

IT IS TIME TO PUT JUSTICE ON THE RIGHT TRACK

Sentences on Trial
Congress can reenact a proud moment in its history by dumping strict mandatory minimums.

Friday, October 10, 2008; A18

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/09/AR2008100902439.html

YOGI BERRA could have written a recently released report on the failure of mandatory minimum sentences.

The report, published by Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM), chronicles lawmakers' rush in the 1950s to enact tough mandatory minimum sentences for what they saw as the viral spread of illegal drugs throughout the country. The most frightening of these substances, marijuana, was blamed for a rise in "sadistic" murders and gruesome sex crimes.

Twenty years later, during the administration of Republican President Richard M. Nixon, many of these mandatory minimums were repealed after lawmakers gathered enough evidence to show that they did not reduce crime or drug consumption and that they served primarily to usurp the power of judges to tailor punishments to crimes. The stiff sentences also resulted in unconscionably long sentences for nonviolent offenders. Reliance on education to prevent drug use, rehabilitation to help addicts kick the habit and sentencing schemes that restored flexibility to judges -- including the flexibility to hand down tougher sentences than required under mandatory minimum statutes -- replaced irrational, tough-on-crime posturing. According to the report, no Republican was kicked out of office for supporting the changes.

That these lessons were forgotten a mere decade later bring to mind one of Mr. Berra's more famous observations: It's deja vu all over again. As the FAMM report explains, in the 1980s Congress again turned to mandatory minimums to combat a growing and admittedly frightening problem involving another relatively unknown drug, crack cocaine, and the crime wave that accompanied it. The result: Judges were forced to sentence first-time nonviolent offenders to unconscionably long prison terms. Under these new laws, a first-time offender caught with five grams of crack faced a mandatory sentence of five years behind bars; if caught with 50 grams, he faced a mandatory sentence of 10 years, with no possibility of parole. A defendant would have to have been caught with 100 times that amount of powder cocaine to trigger similar punishment.

No one expected lawmakers to address this problem in an election year. But they should revisit mandatory minimums and consider their repeal, as their predecessors did in 1970, once a new administration takes over. This is one time when history repeating itself would be a blessing.

IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE SCREWED, BE KISSED AT LEAST

2008-09-19T11:13:00.000-07:00

Other factor related to bail outs.

Keep in mind that AIG had about 175,000 employees. Over half of them were in India. Sixty percent were outside the US. That raises the question: Whose working people are being supported.

AIG has many companies. Most of them are outside the US. Most of them are owned by or are themselves offshore entities in jurisdictions where there are NO or very low taxes. They do not may taxes in the US. If they do, it is very little.
Who ends up owning a viable reconstructed bailed-out company? Do the same old leadership stay in power with their extravagant, excessive or even vulgar salaries, bonuses (even in failure)?

The US should be the owner and the assets should be sold off at a profit to be sure the US taxpayer is not ultimately paying through the nose. We must be sure the old regimes are dislodged and good honest management is installed.
We must be sure that the liquidation is operated to benefit the US Treasury/Tax Payer and not some insider or insider group (like the Carlyle Fund owned in major part by the Bushes) get sweetheart deals to “take over” the operation.

We are about to be phuqued, folks, and the screwing can be avoided. It will help to throw the rascals out.

Lloyd

GOVERNMENT? AS USUAL...

2008-09-18T08:31:00.000-07:00

BAILOUT, BUSH, GREENBURG: AROGANCE AND PRIDE. The little man pays.

The situation of the AIG Bail Out does not exist in a vacuum. Three ARE political considerations.

Recently I ran across in the media a report n this Hank Greenberg. The focus was on his domineering free-wheeling showboating style. (At $27,000,000 a year salary you can be arrogant, gross and reckless with the assets of others?)
Google the name and do your own reading: Maurice R. "Hank" Greenberg. See what honest conclusion you come to.

Somewhere it is written: Pride goeth before the fall. Think of Kenneth Ley, another of the Princes in Bush’s Pioneer Roundtable of heavy hitters. He was of the same ilk as oversaw the largest energy company bust in history. Seems our friends all go to the top, slop around a lot of money and live extravagant lives off the resources of others. These two are just that, examples of excesses of rampant capitalism, favoritism at the regulatory agencies and grasping growth.

Name: Maurice R. Greenberg
Occupation: CEO & Chair, American International Group
Industry: Insurance
Home: New York, New York
1999 Salary & Perks: $27 Million

Political Contributions:
Bush Gubernatorial Races: $5,000
Republican Hard Money: $83,000
Republican Soft Money: $0
Democratic Hard Money: $8,000
Democratic Soft Money: $0
Federal PAC Hard Money: $30,000
Total Contributions: $126,000

Soft Money from Employer: $1,278,100
to Republicans: $658,100
to Democrats: $620,000

Like Pioneer Heinz Prechter, President Bush took big-donor insurance magnate Maurice Hank Greenberg along with him on his ‘92 trade mission to Asia. As a result of this “access,” AIG got to sell more insurance in Japan and became the first foreign company allowed to sell insurance in China. Besides being a huge political funder, Greenberg is a major underwriter of the Heritage Foundation think tank (see Pioneer Elaine Chao). Imagine his horror to discover a Heritage thinker urging Congress to postpone its 2000 vote on normalizing trade with Greenberg’s beloved China. After Greenberg threatened to cut off funding, the think tank rethunk its position and issued a new report: “How Trade With China Benefits Americans.” AIG scored a revolving-door coup in ‘98 when it hired Ernest Patrikis, an official departing the powerful Federal Reserve Bank of New York, as a “special adviser” to Greenberg. An AIG subsidiary, AIG Capital Partners Inc., paid a $500,000 “finder’s fee” to Pioneer Wayne Berman, who helped the company land a contract to manage $100 million in state pension investments from ex-Connecticut Treasurer Paul Silvester. Silvester was convicted in “99 of taking kickbacks from the private money managers to whom he awarded investment contracts. AIG paid Greenberg more than $6 million in ‘98 alone. Pioneer Robert J. O. Connell also was an AIG executive until recently.

Do you see any favoritism or cronyism here? You buy this?
When you consider the whole thing, look at the AIG numbers as relate to employees: 178,000 Worldwide. Over 60 percent are outside the US, mostly in India (where the cheap labor is). Ask yourself whose working people are benefiting? We are paying $100,000,000,000 to save the jobs of foreigners?
There is some justification. But this thing of rampant globalization has to be revisited.

FROM:
Maurice R. Greenberg - SourceWatch
Maurice R. "Hank" Greenberg, "ranked 132 in the world and 59th in the US with assets of $3.1 billion," was forced out as Chairman of top insurance company ...
www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Maurice_R._Greenberg - 25k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

Lloyd

EAST IS EAST AND WEST IS WEST

2008-08-26T08:24:00.000-07:00

FROM FORBES NEWSLETTER TODAY......

In 1889, seven years before the founding of the modern international Olympics, the British author Rudyard Kipling intoned: "Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet/'Till Earth and Sky stand present at God's great Judgment Seat."

Do this month's games falsify or affirm Kipling's geocultural assessment?

As someone who has attended and studied several games and gained backstage access to Olympic officials, the recent events in Beijing confirmed the verity of Kipling's verse.

There is more than a duality between East and West inherent in these games; they embody a paradox between the collaborative spirit of global unity and the patriotic spirit of nationalistic competition. Thus the Beijing Olympic Committee's theme of "One World, One Dream" can be interpreted as celebrating either the harmony of shared objectives or China's conquest over conflicting, and diverse, values.

The harmony theme should not be negligible. Ten thousand five hundred athletes from 205 countries traveled to China to compete in 302 events; they were accompanied by 3 million visitors, while billions more watched from home. But exuberance over record-setting excellence by athletes like American swimmer Michael Phelps and Chinese gymnast Li Xiaopeng transcended national ties.

In Beijing, in fact, what hasn't emerged is the kind of violence often provoked by the competition at the Super Bowl or even some high school football games.

At the same time, the existence of the competitors' distinct agendas is reflected in their interest, energy and sponsorship of each Olympiad. Patriotic pride is mirrored in nationalistic funding, fiercely monitored nation-by-nation scoring and spectators on the lookout for evidence of political bias in the judging. The architectural triumphs of this particular Olympics represent an historic $40 billion public works initiative to showcase the world's acknowledgment that this nation of 1.3 billion people--and the world's third-largest economy--is taking its seat at the table of global influence.

This nationalistic pride of China was appropriately manifest in the breathtaking beauty of the opening ceremonies, the logistical efficiency of the games, the newly planted forests and a largely ceremonial Olympic Green.

This manufactured perfection was matched by legions of conscripted "volunteers," the Potemkin village-like disguise of unsightly buildings with faux veneers, uniformed spirit sections at venues with scripted cheering at random moments, a lip-synched little girl's soprano, pre-recorded spliced-in fireworks and the perpetual emptiness at the far-flung locations designated for protesters.

Such flawlessness, though, is exactly what betrays the real divide between East and West. In stark contrast to the public yet artificial perfection of Beijing's Olympics stand the substantial civic and systemic challenges of past events in Atlanta and Athens. In Atlanta, late buses for athletes, failing scoreboards, suffocating street vendors and, of course, a terrorist bombing during a late-night concert sparked public controversy; tardy construction of key venues, traffic control and financial distress plagued Athens.

But these prior Olympics proffered raw authenticity, pluralistic interests, democratic voices and transparent decision-making. Athens would almost seem disloyal to its label as the cradle of democracy were there no disagreements. Similarly, the entrepreneurial polyglot culture of Atlanta was a carpet of humanity; the 21-acre Centennial Olympic Park was filled with children rollicking in splash pools, families watching performances by musicians from around the world and perusing exotic exhibits. Los Angeles, Barcelona, Spain, and Sydney, Australia, also remembered to create gathering places that showcased the spontaneous expression of individual joy.

The Atlanta Games were dubbed the "People's Olympics," but, ironically, the magnificent games produced by the People's Republic of China seem geared to please the world's wealthy elites. Beijing's Olympic Green discourages visitors with multiple layers of security screening and hard-to-obtain access tickets.

Thus, its formal meeting spaces, majestic reflecting ponds with rows of benches, massive parade grounds and monuments are eerily vacant as event spectators are hastily ushered to their destinations, like the Bird's Nest stadium and the Water Cube swimming venue. Crime scene tape keeps Beijing's 17 million proud residents from glimpsing the lots where the athletes' buses are parked.

The night of opening ceremonies, a 1,000-person crowd at Beijing's main train station, which had peacefully gathered to watch a large-screen projection of the show, was dispersed by police. Authorities turned off the TV in the middle of the spectacle.

This manufactured uniformity is both a triumph and a challenge for China. Perhaps the sacrifice of individual pleasures for collective achievement is acceptable to the people of China and other Eastern cultures in a way it isn't in the West. Since the next Olympics will take us to Kipling's London, we are likely to see a return to chaos, confusion, conflict and spontaneous joy.

Jeffrey Sonnenfeld is senior associate dean and Lester Crown professor of management practice at the Yale School of Management. He led the Yale Global Leadership Forum at the Beijing Olympics and studied the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games for several years before publishing a case study on these Games in 1996. He is also author of Firing Back: How Great Leaders Rebound from Career Disaster and The Hero's Farewell.

HOW CAN WE SHUT THESE FLAMING LIBERALS UP?

2008-08-07T18:34:00.000-07:00

Notice the date.

Read up on Harry Browne and know what is real.
Lloyd

When Will We Learn?
by Harry Browne
September 12, 2001

The terrorist attacks against America comprise a horrible tragedy. But they shouldn't be a surprise.

It is well known that in war, the first casualty is truth – that during any war truth is forsaken for propaganda. But sanity was a prior casualty: it was the loss of sanity that led to war in the first place.

Our foreign policy has been insane for decades. It was only a matter of time until Americans would have to suffer personally for it. It is a terrible tragedy of life that the innocent so often have to suffer for the sins of the guilty.

When will we learn that we can't allow our politicians to bully the world without someone bullying back eventually?

President Bush has authorized continued bombing of innocent people in Iraq. President Clinton bombed innocent people in the Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Serbia. President Bush Senior invaded Iraq and Panama. President Reagan bombed innocent people in Libya and invaded Grenada. And on and on it goes.

Did we think the people who lost their families and friends and property in all that destruction would love America for what happened?

When will we learn that violence always begets violence?

Teaching Lessons

Supposedly, Reagan bombed Libya to teach Muammar al-Qaddafi a lesson about terrorism. But shortly thereafter a PanAm plane was destroyed over Scotland, and our government tried to convince the world it was Libyans who did it.

When will we learn that "teaching someone a lesson" never teaches anything but resentment – that it only inspires the recipient to greater acts of defiance.

How many times on Tuesday did we hear someone describe the terrorist attacks as "cowardly acts"? But as misguided and despicable as they were, they were anything but cowardly. The people who committed them knowingly gave their lives for whatever stupid beliefs they held.

But what about the American presidents who order bombings of innocent people – while the presidents remain completely insulated from any danger? What would you call their acts?

When will we learn that forsaking truth and reason in the heat of battle almost always assures that we will lose the battle?

Losing our Last Freedoms

And now, as sure as night follows day, we will be told we must give up more of our freedoms to avenge what never should have happened in the first place.

When will we learn that it makes no sense to give up our freedoms in the name of freedom?

What to Do

What should be done?

First of all, stop the hysteria. Stand back and ask how this could have happened. Ask how a prosperous country isolated by two oceans could have so embroiled itself in other people's business that someone would want to do us harm. Even sitting in the middle of Europe, Switzerland isn't beset by terrorist attacks, because the Swiss mind their own business.

Second, resolve that we won't let our leaders use this occasion to commit their own terrorist acts upon more innocent people, foreign and domestic, that will inspire more terrorist attacks in the future.

Third, find a way, with enforceable constitutional limits, to prevent our leaders from ever again provoking this kind of anger against America.

Patriotism?

There are those who will say this article is unpatriotic and un-American – that this is not a time to question our country or our leaders.

When will we learn that without freedom and sanity, there is no reason to be patriotic?

Harry Browne was the 2000 Libertarian Party candidate for President. You can read more of his articles at www.HarryBrowne.org, his books are available at www.HBBooks.com.

IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO BAIL OUT THE BIG GUYS.

2008-07-08T16:05:00.000-07:00

IN FACT, IT IS NEVER TOO EARLY EITHER.

If you have money, wealth, political power, you can get a floater, some help, a loan or direct government hand out to stay financially alive. Bank on the Republicans. The Bush types who never saw a big shot, oil company, or bank he would not sleep with. How queer.

NOW THE GOVERNMENT COMES OUT OF THE CLOSET.

FED CHIEF Bernanke has extended his massive Government bailout to save Wall Street brokers!

According to Bernanke’s recent Congressional testimony, we shouldn’t worry about the fact that he’s, in effect, buying billions dollars of the lousiest loans from banks and brokers — or that instead of being backed by U.S. Treasuries, the US dollar is now backed by junk loans that banks and brokers can’t unload fast enough.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac drowning — down 16-18% yesterday ... down 79-82% since August ... and going down for the third time!

This will pump up inflation and prolong a recovery. As one astute pundit has said, All hell is about to break loose on Wall Street.

Yesterday, Lehman warned that new accounting rules will force Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to raise a staggering $75 billion in new capital to offset loan losses. That means both must release a blizzard of new stock to raise that money. Investors, faced with a glut of new Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac stock, recoiled in horror, creaming these stocks 16% and 18% respectively — in a single trading session. And now, just this morning, Bernanke announced that the Fed is seriously considering extending its emergency bailout of Wall Street brokers and other institutions past the September deadline — indefinitely!

Hard to imagine: Just one, short year ago, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were considered to be “conservative” investments — among the safest bets on Wall Street. But since last August, these two stocks have cratered 79% and 82%, respectively.

The Bush War can be eliminated and that will help a great deal to level the playing field.

Economics at its best........

Nor should we worry that the hundreds and hundreds of billions of new, unbacked dollars he’s creating out of thin air to bail out these institutions will destroy what’s left of our buying power ... send our cost of living through the roof ... and bankrupt millions of Americans on fixed incomes….. We could go on and on.

PLAYING POLITICS WITH JUSTICE

2008-06-25T04:23:00.000-07:00

For the full story: LA TIMES

Probe finds illegal hiring at Justice Department

Promising lawyers and law students were rejected because of their political and ideological views, internal investigators say.

By Richard B. Schmitt, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
June 25, 2008

WASHINGTON -- Scores of highly credentialed young lawyers and law students were denied interviews for coveted positions at the Justice Department because of an illegal screening process that took political and ideological views and affiliations into account rather than merit, Justice Department investigators concluded in a report released Tuesday.

In 2006, some applicants for sought-after jobs in the department's honors and summer intern programs were rejected because they were members of the American Constitution Society or Planned Parenthood or because they expressed concern about gender discrimination in the military, the report says.

Leave it to the Republicans to take all our justice to the junk heep.
Lloyd Winburn

... NOW WE SEE IN A MIRROR DIMLY...

2008-06-10T14:29:00.000-07:00

THIS IS THE WORSE OF TIMES (IN THE BEST OF TIME) TO STEAL A PHRASE FROM DICKENS.

Immigration. "President Bush has ordered federal contractors to participate in the Department of Homeland Security's electronic system for verifying the immigration status of their workers."

What you see, folks, is the fading away of our individuality, our rights to privacy, our rights to have independence to act and do as we please.

O, I know that there will be those who will say that if we have nothing to hide, we should not care who is watching. But I do. For something deep inside of me cries out for a curbing of the Government's taking away of our individual freedoms an coming rapidly to the point of telling us what to do as well as not to do, where to go and well as where not to go, what to say as well of what not to say....

These really are the worst of times but they too will change. Soon the citizenry will rise up and send all these rules, regulations, spying vehicles to the great depth of intelligence. If we only knew that it would be sooner than later.

Love

Lloyd

THE TRUTH WILL BE KNOWN

2008-05-29T14:33:00.000-07:00

The Truth, all of it will come out and the truth about the War In Iraq will be ugly and painul....

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

What I do know is that war should only be waged when necessary, and the Iraq war was not necessary.

- Former White House press secretary Scott McClellan, in his new book, What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception, in which he describes the administration as "manipulating sources of public opinion" and "downplaying the major reason for going to war." (Source: The Washington Post)

SENATOR TED KENNEDY

2008-05-22T12:27:00.000-07:00

I knew and worked with him when he was young, impetuous, even wild. He would always take a phone call. He worked hard for people, his constituents, his State and his Counrty.

The nation got a shock this week. Edward Kennedy, the lion who has been in the United States Senate for nearly 50 years, was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. I know Ted Kennedy and have enjoyed personal conversations with him on a number of occasions over a wide range of issues.

When it comes to fighting for economic justice, civil rights, health care, and education, and to opposing unjust and mistaken wars, there has been no greater champion in the Senate, no stronger lion than Teddy Kennedy, as his friends like to call him. And what has been most impressive and inspiring during these last few days since the Massachusetts senator was stricken with seizures is hearing how many friends he really has - on both sides of the aisle. Despite being the archetypal "liberal" in the U.S. Senate, and the favorite whipping boy and consistent poster child for the right-wing ditto heads of talk radio and the egomaniacs of Fox News, the outpouring of respect and affection for Ted Kennedy from his colleagues in the Senate, including Republicans, has been just amazing.

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky., Republican leader), said: "Senator Kennedy enjoys great respect and admiration on this side of the aisle. He is indeed one of the most important figures to ever serve in this body in our history."

Conservative Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), who has become a close friend of Kennedy, said: "He's like a brother to me. I love him. I love the Kennedy family. He's given so much to the country, and he has one of the greatest senses of humor of anyone I've known in my life. You can't help but like him if you get to know him."

This genuine and generous outpouring of love and concern for Sen. Kennedy proves a very important thing. It shows that one can be an advocate, a passionate and relentless champion for clear and controversial causes, and yet still be a bridge-builder, a reconciler, and a seeker of common ground. The conventional wisdom says you must be one or the other, an advocate or a bridge-builder, but never both. Ted Kennedy, once again, proves the conventional wisdom wrong. It is because he is a lawmaker who genuinely wants to get things done, to find real and concrete solutions -- especially for people who really need them. Kennedy is known as a senator who truly wants to be effective and not just right, as so many others, on both sides of the aisle, are too often content to be.

As a Wall Street Journal story said:

Long known as a liberal lion, partisan warrior and scion of a Democratic family dynasty, Sen. Kennedy has, in the gridlocked environment of recent years, played a role as a key deal maker in nearly all significant domestic policy achievements. Many of the most important domestic milestones of the Bush years ... could not have happened without Sen. Kennedy's role as finder of common ground between the two parties.

Ted Kennedy represents a tradition of public service almost unparalleled in American political history. Three of his brothers literally gave their lives in service to their country and the Kennedy family has consistently shown how "the haves" can decide to use their wealth and power to help change the world for the sake of the "have-nots." At 77, his colleagues will tell you that nobody works harder, day in and day out, on the nuts of bolts of lawmaking than Sen. Kennedy, instead of retiring to sail off to his beloved Cape Cod.

I worked with Teddy on Jack's Campaign and on Roberts campaign. It was a great experience The youngest of the Kennedy brothers has become the patriarch of the family now, the lion who takes care of all the cubs. Hearing that impressed me as a father and an uncle myself as to the "family values" of one of the most public figures in American political life.

So pray for Ted Kennedy and his family, a family that has both given and suffered so much, as more tests, diagnosis, and critical treatment decisions lie ahead. And whatever your political views, thank God for a very human public servant who has focused his entire political career on those whom Jesus called "the least of these," and who once told me one of his favorite biblical texts comes from the book of James, who reminds us all that "faith without works is dead."

SO MANY DEAD. SO MUCH PAIN. SO MANY THINGS WRONG

2008-05-20T16:11:00.000-07:00

THE LIE LIVES ON.

More troops are not an answer. They are a problem.

More troops to Iraq. "Pentagon officials notified about 40,000 active-duty and National Guard soldiers that they will be deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan in the upcoming

months and years."

This pain, this killing, this mismanagement must stop. STOP THE WAR.

Lloyd

THE DRUG WAR IS CRIMINAL

2008-05-08T20:03:00.000-07:00

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

The way the war on drugs has been pursued is one of the biggest reasons for the growing racial disparities in criminal justice over all.

- Ryan S. King, a policy analyst with The Sentencing Project, which recently released a report describing large disparities in the rate at which blacks and whites are arrested and imprisoned for drug offenses, even though the two groups use illegal drugs at roughly equal rates. (Source: The New York Times)

Please visit http://www.paracletefoundation.org and become involved in changing the Criminal (in-)Justice System.

Lloyd

NOW AIN'T THAT KIND OF HIM

2008-05-02T12:11:00.001-07:00

Almost a Billion dollars in food aid paid for by US Taxpayers.

Food Aid. "Responding to skyrocketing global food prices, President Bush asked Congress for $770 million in emergency foreign aid targeted at the neediest in the developing world."

That does not bother me. What bothers me is that those who should be paying are the Oil Cartel, American Petroleum industry, World wide corporate interest. These all receive incentives, gifts, breaks and great profits at the expense of the same taxpayer who is paying the bill for cleaing up after them, for protecting them, for insuring them, financing them an giving them great concessions.

A one time shot across the bow of all these takers in an assessment of something equal to their las 3 months profits, would help a great deal and my even serve to open their eyes to ways to "spread it around" and try to be good neightors.

Lloyd

MCCAIN IS A GOOD REASON TO CHANGE

2008-04-05T11:59:00.000-07:00

MCCAIN IS STEEPED IN MILITIARISM.

He is third generation military and his record shows it. He sees no solution that is not a military solution.

To make him president would be an error our country can ill afford.

Lloyd

Beyond Cruel for a Man with Penis Cancer

2008-03-13T06:56:00.000-07:00

Judge calls immigration officials' decision 'beyond cruel'

With ONE out of TEN American Males in Prison, this is a major problem. The privatization of the prison system, the throwing of everyone into prison no matter what the crime by MANDATORY MINIMUM SENTENCES, man suffer and Crime Goes Unabated.

The ruling says a detainee who later died of penile cancer was denied a biopsy of a lesion though several doctors said the procedure was urgently needed. His family will be allowed to seek damages.

By Henry Weinstein, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer March 13, 2008
See the complete article HERE

In a stinging ruling, a Los Angeles federal judge said immigration officials' alleged decision to withhold a critical medical test and other treatment from a detainee who later died of cancer was "beyond cruel and unusual" punishment.The decision from U.S. District Judge Dean Pregerson allows the family of Francisco Castaneda to seek financial damages from the government.Castaneda, who suffered from penile cancer, died Feb. 16. Before his release from custody last year, the government had refused for 11 months to authorize a biopsy for a growing lesion, even though voluminous government records showed that several doctors said the test was urgently needed, given Castaneda's condition and a family history of cancer, Pregerson said.But rather than test and treat Castaneda, government officials told him to be patient and prescribed antihistamines, ibuprofen and extra boxer shorts, the judge wrote in a decision released late Tuesday. In summary, the judge wrote, the care provided to Castaneda "can be characterized by one word: nothing."Pregerson blasted public health officials' "attempt to sidestep responsibility for what appears to be . . . one of the most, if not the most, egregious" violations of the constitutional prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment that "the court has ever encountered."

Read the whole article here: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-cruel13mar13,0,2053450.story?track=ntothtml

THINKING BANKRUPTCY

2008-03-04T17:23:00.000-08:00

DON'T (Disclosure. I had something to do with theis book's being published and revenue goest to my favorite charity: Paraclete Foundation (California)----- Lloyd Winburn

JUST RELEASED
Full disclosure in Government Abuse in Bankruptcy Cases.This Book promises to upset a lot of Bureaucrats, IRS Agents, Prosecutors and some Judges who simply handle the traffic through the courts.

Thinking of BANKRUPTCY? DON'T
READ ALL ABOUT IT
A Must Read for you if are contemplating filing bankruptcy, need help meeting debt payments, have collectors calling; you are down to your last pennies, broke, frustrated with car paymjent due, huuse payment late or the business is on the rocks and your wonder where the payroll is coming from and the land lord will not answer your calls.

YOUNG CUBAN DECENDANTS WILL DO IT

2008-02-26T09:50:00.000-08:00

Cube is on its way to being recognized or "accomodated" by the US. The old school is about empty. Those Cubans who excaped Castro and took a position on the teets of the US are fading and the young people, withe the wisdom of youth and independent of the senseless emotionalism of the old times in Cuba, will bring about the change.... and fast.

In the Los Angeles TIMES of today:

Many in a newer generation of exiles favor loosening travel restrictions and defrosting diplomatic relations.

By Miguel Bustillo and Carol J. Williams, Los Angeles Times Staff Writers February 26, 2008
MIAMI --

Amilcar Yera, the owner of a Cuban restaurant that dishes out onion-slathered steaks and thick fried plantains to a discerning exile clientele, yearns for a day when Fidel Castro is dead and democracy sprouts anew on the island that still consumes his imagination.But Yera, who escaped communist Cuba a decade ago after marrying a German tourist, said he could no longer tolerate a U.S. government policy that starved the island of American visitors, trade and investments in hope of sparking a revolt. READ the ENTIRE ARTICLE

THE COST OF WAR

2008-02-25T14:53:00.000-08:00

THERE ARE BETTER WAYS to solve problems between nations..... peoples. We must try them. A good start is to go back as far to the beginning as we can in Iraq. There will be tragedies when we leave. It is a given. But is will be much worse to stay.

I lifted this from SOJOURNERS and you should have it:
---- Sister Simone Campbell sojourners@sojo.net

I was in Lebanon and Syria in January and saw up close the agony of the war.
In Damascus, young Iraqi refugees have created a youth choir at the Good Shepherd Center. After singing for us, many came forward to tell us their stories. One young woman told us of fleeing with her father and disabled brother after being threatened in a town near Baghdad. The family thought it was most dangerous for the disabled child and thought that the 15-year-old daughter could act as a mother to him. Now they are worried because the mother and other children are in constant danger.

An 18-year-old spoke of coming with his mother, who has cancer. His father is still in Iraq and is working to support the mother and son in Syria. They are hoping to be able to relocate to a third country, but they have already been waiting over a year and his mother is getting sicker. He does not know what will happen to them.

The Iraqi chorus leader told us that they come together to try to learn from each others' suffering, both when they were in Iraq and now in Syria. He told us, "We smile, but inside our hearts we suffer in our own way. Jesus told us to love one another, but also we must ask what is next. What is our future? We want a solution to two problems—our having to leave AND the reason for leaving…the war. We were born free but now we do not have the freedom to make our own solutions."

It is with these words echoing in my mind and heart that I know we must respond to the needs of the refugees. We as a nation can do better than admitting fewer than 6,000 refugees in five years. We can welcome in those who have been displaced by this war.

AND we must work to end the violence in Iraq. We need to build peace through international involvement. We must end the U.S. occupation, internationalize a peacekeeping force, and have a surge of diplomacy both internally in Iraq and in the region. Only by changing our policy and tactics will these victims of the war have any freedom to make their own solutions. We must act now.

Sister Simone Campbell, executive director of NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby, is a religious leader, attorney, and poet with extensive experience in public policy and advocacy for systemic change. In Washington, she lobbies on issues of peace building and economic justice. In January, she was a member of a delegation of eight Catholic Sisters sponsored by Catholic Relief Services who traveled to Lebanon and Syria to meet with Iraqi refugees, Christian and Islamic leaders, representatives of religious and civil NGOs, U.S. diplomatic personnel, a Syrian Parliament Member, and UNHCR regional representatives.

MILLIONS OF DOLLARS LOST DUE TO BAD FORMULA

2008-02-17T09:35:00.000-08:00

The Los Angeles TIMES today: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-prisons17feb17,0,4889916.story?track=ntothtml

California prisoners serve overtime

Times investigation shows that good behavior isn't properly counted; errors could cost $44 million in this fiscal year.

By Michael Rothfeld, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer February 17, 2008
SACRAMENTO -- The counselor at Salinas Valley State Prison paid a surprise visit to Nicholas Shearin's cell with good news: He would go home in two days, after a decade behind bars.She did not mention that he should have been freed eight months earlier. Shearin was among as many as 33,000 state inmates whose sentences may have been wrong because they were not given all the time off they earned for good behavior and for working in prison. Records obtained by The Times show that in August, the state sampled some inmate cases and discovered that in more than half -- 354 of 679 -- the offenders were set to remain in prison a combined 104 years too long. Fifty-nine of those prisoners, including Shearin, had already overstayed and were subsequently released after serving a total of 20 years too many, an average of four months each. California prisoners serve overtime

Times investigation shows that good behavior isn't properly counted; errors could cost $44 million in this fiscal year.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Federal Prisons are as bad... or worse. The System (Prosecutors, Prison Administrators, boot licking Directors) all fight to give prisoners the 15% off for good behavior on their SERVED TIME when the Law clearly states that the good time reward should be on the SENTENCE. So there are months of needless anguish and imprisonment with all the attendant costs just because of this "technicality" and it is not being addressed by our ever present Congress and Executive branchs......

A CHAT ON SKYPE WITH MY SON

2008-02-14T20:04:00.000-08:00

I want to share this pleasant conversation with my oldes son... What a joy it is to have kids and be able to communicate with them in not so hushed tones.

[7:48:41 PM] Lloyd Winburn says: How are you, Marko? I certainly am OK.
[7:49:09 PM] Lloyd Winburn says: Obama looks strong, don't you think?
[7:49:10 PM] Mark Winburn says: groovy
[7:49:15 PM] Mark Winburn says: very
[7:49:19 PM] Lloyd Winburn says: Cool!
[7:49:28 PM] Mark Winburn says: i don't think he'll take texas but he should grab ohio
[7:49:37 PM] Mark Winburn says: and hawai'i and wisconsin
[7:49:53 PM] Mark Winburn says: what's the atmosphere like there?
[7:50:09 PM] Lloyd Winburn says: He might even take texas. There are a lot of negra folks there.
[7:50:25 PM] Mark Winburn says: but more latinos.
[7:50:34 PM] Mark Winburn says: i don't get that connection
[7:50:39 PM] Mark Winburn says: seems racial to me
[7:50:43 PM] Lloyd Winburn says: Atmosphere here is acceptable. It hurts to see my son in such pain. But he is sticking with the program, it seems.
[7:51:05 PM] Mark Winburn says: why such pain? withdrawls?
[7:51:19 PM] Lloyd Winburn says: Sometimes he seems pretty cool to me, but then I know better than to let that get to me.
[7:51:44 PM] Mark Winburn says: he's going to be an emotional roller coaster for a LOOOOOONG time
[7:52:14 PM] Lloyd Winburn says: Yes withdrawals. Remember he has been hooked a long time Now it is over ten days and as far as I know he has not touched anything. Yes, he will be an emotional roller coaster, but then he always was to a degree.
[7:53:00 PM] Mark Winburn says: yes but spurred on by what? the things he's withdrawing from now
[7:53:13 PM] Mark Winburn says: tobacco and caffeine might ease the pain
[7:53:19 PM] Mark Winburn says: but they're addictive too
[7:53:33 PM] Lloyd Winburn says: The connection? The black folks are turning out and voting overwhelmingly for him. The Latinos will stick pretty much with the Clintons but maybe not so heavily committed as to get out and vote.
[7:53:51 PM] Mark Winburn says: very true
[7:54:21 PM] Mark Winburn says: you called obama a long time ago ... even laid out his speeches and nuances
[7:54:25 PM] Mark Winburn says: very impressive!
[7:55:15 PM] Lloyd Winburn says: Tobacco helps me. I hate to say it, but I love my cigars and am now up to a whole one every day. Addicted? I am off wine for the Lenten season (and because it makes me too uncomfortable to be drinking when Craig cannot). Good or bad?
[7:55:35 PM] Mark Winburn says: good in both cases
[7:55:49 PM] Mark Winburn says: Christ didn't choose the painless way out
[7:55:56 PM] Mark Winburn says: the least we can do is try
[7:56:20 PM] Mark Winburn says: i love tobacco but have no tolerance for it. allergies, probably
[7:56:23 PM] Lloyd Winburn says: I think now Obama should make his foreign relations speac: In a quiet setting with Flags and some recognized for their activities in the foreign relations field:
[7:56:49 PM] Mark Winburn says: it can wait. people want more specifics on economics
[7:57:06 PM] Mark Winburn says: you listening to npr via your pooter?
[7:57:41 PM] Lloyd Winburn says: My fellow Americans. The world is a dangerous place. The situation internationally is tense. We must keep our defense up and make clear our concerns and our fears. Bla Bla Bla....
[7:58:01 PM] Lloyd Winburn says: The economy: What would YOU do?
[7:59:21 PM] Mark Winburn says: did you see the article i sent about tax returns?
[7:59:37 PM] Mark Winburn says: BTW - the kids should have skype working this weekend
[7:59:57 PM] Lloyd Winburn says: Bla Bla Bla: We will stand with Israel and press them to do everything reasonable to keep things calm. We must work with our allies in the area to bring the parties ALL together for talks, then more talks... for give and take, for understanding and POSITIVE acts of friendship, understanding and common good.
[8:00:31 PM] Lloyd Winburn says: Yeah, I saw it and liked it and put it up on my blogggg.
[8:00:58 PM] Mark Winburn says: i read today that his speechwriters are paid $50k+
[8:01:19 PM] Mark Winburn says: be worth it to pound out a few and send them to his advisor(s)
[8:01:29 PM] Lloyd Winburn says: I will not work that cheap. I want a cabinet post.... bla bla bla bla
[8:02:02 PM] Lloyd Winburn says: I have never had a response from: Democratic Committee, Howard, Chief of Staff.........
[8:02:03 PM] Mark Winburn says: ex cons in Mexico are paid much less (chuckle)
[8:02:23 PM] Lloyd Winburn says: Well doooo ti doooo. I was not thinking.....
[8:02:49 PM] Mark Winburn says: hey, send it through me. nothing like ghostly ghost writing
[8:06:39 PM] Lloyd Winburn says: BO can forget about talking about unwed mothers, welfare, jobless pay.... He has that all locked up. He has to talk about fair, evenhanded, application of the burden of taxes. Taxes are with us and always be. It is just "Who Pays?" and how much. Those living off interest income and investments have a great advantage. Labor is taking the liks. We maintain on purpose a steady pool of unemployed because that is what the system we have adopted needs and calls for. However, we cannot expect 4 to 7 % of our able bodied in a pool just in case someone gets a big order and needs some labor to fill it. A long time ago some developed countries acknowledged this and have a great generous pool for the unemployed.
[8:09:07 PM] Mark Winburn says: eliminate the cap on social security. zero taxes for people earning under $X singly, $Y with 1 child, $Z with 2 children etc.
[8:09:37 PM] Mark Winburn says: also have to Kennedy-in volunteerism and sacrifice
[8:09:47 PM] Lloyd Winburn says: As a tactic I would not go to the factories and talk about jobs. I would go to Wall Street and tell it straight: We who have cannot expect those less fortunate than we to work for substandard wages, bad health care, high mortgage rates and poor schools. We have to turn, take a look and lend a hand, not hand out, to those struggling to grasp the rung above their present financial status.
[8:09:52 PM] Mark Winburn says: the young are ready for it AND they are experiencing a baby boom
[8:10:21 PM] Mark Winburn says: brilliant. don't pander - TALK
[8:10:32 PM] Mark Winburn says: take the thunder from McCain
[8:12:11 PM] Lloyd Winburn says: To the young people: You are to be congratulated. You are showing us the way to happiness through your efforts to learn and to get ahead. I am amazed at the knowledge young people have in their understanding of and care for the technology that inundates us. You can keep your cool. You can demand that our leadership in technology be supported, nurtured and applied with humanity and care.
[8:13:07 PM] Mark Winburn says: fun ain't it?
[8:13:35 PM] Lloyd Winburn says: I do not share the pessimistic thought that our educational system is failing us. I am astounded at the good the schools are doing with our paltry... I mean The Administration's and the Congress's failure to act in matters to strengthen our educational system.
[8:14:04 PM] Lloyd Winburn says: We can do better. We will do better.
[8:14:11 PM] Mark Winburn says: and so on
[8:14:43 PM] Mark Winburn says: you probably cowrote his next four variations
[8:17:18 PM] Mark Winburn says: don't forget to listen to npr - lots of ways http://www.npr.org/
[8:18:25 PM] Lloyd Winburn says: Now back to that foreign relations speach: I will make it my purpose, my goal to do those constructive things to bring the great continent of Africa into a period of peace and prosperity. We must NOT supply arms to anyone there and we should bring our full force and weight in reason and economic strength to stop the distribution of armx into these troubled areas. We must support in every way possible good, elected, democratic, leadership and stop the muddle cuddling of dictators, military leaders.... and, when elections are held and leaders are selected, we must keep in mind that they are not our leaders....(and not take them out a la Nixon/Kissinger). They are the elected leaders of the affected.... and we must watch for .... ok.. bye.. love DA

IT IS TIME TO THROW THE IRS OUT~

2008-02-13T19:32:00.000-08:00

The Simple Tax Return
By Steven D. Levitt
Economist Austan Goolsbee has a $44 billion idea called the “Simple Return”:
Around two-thirds of taxpayers take only the standard deduction and do not itemize. Frequently, all of their income is solely from wages from one employer and interest income from one bank. For almost all of these people, the IRS already receives information about each of their sources of income directly from their employers and banks. The IRS then asks these same people to spend time gathering documents and filling out tax forms, or to spend money paying tax preparers to do it. In essence, these taxpayers are just copying into a tax return information that the IRS already receives independently. The Simple Return would have the IRS take the information about income directly from the employers and banks and, if the person’s tax status were simple enough, send that taxpayer a return prefilled with the information. The program would be voluntary. Anyone who preferred to fill out his own tax form, or to pay a tax preparer to do it, would just throw the Simple Return away and file his taxes the way he does now. For the millions of taxpayers who could use the Simple Return, however, filing a tax return would entail nothing more than checking the numbers, signing the return, and then either sending a check or getting a refund.

READ THE REST

THE WAR, AL QAEDA: PROSPECT FOR PEACE

2008-02-06T15:04:00.000-08:00

Take a few minutes to review this great summary of the situation in Pakastan by Sojourner:

Pakistan. "Al Qaeda is gaining in strength from its refuge in Pakistan and is steadily improving its ability to recruit, train and position operatives capable of carrying out attacks inside the United States."+ PLUS, reports on McClatchy newspapers, Chicago Tribune, New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, CNN Politics, Evangelical voters, Congress-stimulus, Congress-global warming, Gaza, Iraq, Iran, Chad, and Afghanistan.

Whre is our peace?

If there ever was a losing battle, we are in it. We went to the wrong place at the wrong time against the wrong people for lies, deceit and false promises. Mission Accomplished? Are you kidding? Are we kidding ourselves?

Once you have read it, you might ask what we have accomplished in Iraq and what return for our funds and efforts we have received in the Middle East over all.
Lloyd

THE WAR AIN'T OVER

2008-02-02T07:51:00.000-08:00

NO, THE WAR IN IRAQ IS NOT OVER. It might seem over because of the promiance of the election campaigns in the media and the waning interest of the American people in a seemingly unsolvable solution there. Added to that confusion is Bush's successful campaign to secuce un into thinking the "Surge" has worked.

BAGHDAD -- Bombs carried by women tore through two popular pet markets here Friday, killing 77 people, in the worst violence to hit Baghdad since a U.S. troop buildup reached its peak in July. ---http://www.latimes.com/news/la-fg-iraq2feb02,0,2794690.story?track=ntothtml

We are no better off now than we were the day Bush took us into the war with lies and mis management. We are no closer to having a democratic Iraq now than we were when Saddam was in control.

In the article in the Los Angeles TIMES, U.S. military and Iraqi officials note " that overall attack and civilian casualty numbers are at their lowest levels since the spring of 2005. But they say the state of security still is 'tenuous.' Iraqis, analysts and U.S. military commanders acknowledge that Iraq could turn more violent again if the government does not make progress in easing tensions between Sunni Arabs and Shiites.'I am indeed optimistic, but at the same time I'm realistic. This place could go back,'" said Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, who commands U.S. forces in the strategic belts south of Baghdad.

We have to get out of Iraq and let those people sort it out for themselves. It is all a tragedy... what is going to happen when we do leave... but it will happen sooner or later. Let's make it sooner and get it behind us.

YOUR 401(K) NEST EGG GO ROTTEN?

2008-01-30T07:56:00.000-08:00

YOU AND BETTER WISE UP
This article in the Los Angeles Times tells the story. The roller-coaster ride, uncertainty, fear, lost resources, diminished retirement benefits..... these are all the sources of fear for those of us who have not done it right.

And, what is right.... BLS: Buy land, Stupid. Well you say, I cannot do it because it costs too much to hold land. That is true In the US. It is not true in Mexico (at La Paz, Baja California Sur, where you can buy a lot near the beach now for as little $5,000 and have absolute assurance that it will be worth more than twice that much in ten years. And holding it is not a heavey tax burden.

This outfit has lots from 4,000 sq feet to one acre or more for a price from as little as $5,000.... and you can build on it NOW or in 10 or 15 years. It is the most perfect hedge against inflation you can find and is totally secure and safe and sure.

THE BABY BOOM: It is not over yet

2008-01-16T14:07:00.000-08:00

There is a new Baby Boom afoot:

Baby boom. "Bucking the trend in many other wealthy industrialized nations, the United States seems to be experiencing a baby boomlet, reporting the largest number of children born in 45 years." (Sojourners)

The US economy depends upon a continuation of the Consumerism we have experienced lo these many years.
The economic boost will continue as long as the babies keep coming, TV exists and our godless society does not find its way.

That begs a lot of questions but I will stay with the statement at present. The news is good for Social Security because down the line there will be a great number of new contributors.

The challenge is whether we have the will to do for education what needs to be done. We must have educated citizens to maintain growth and compete in the booming technological age.

What all this means in the "family" age, I cannot say. To think that about half of our new arrivals will be bastards does not speak well for the family. Divorces are visited upon about half the marriages. What does that tell us about our Christian Morality and stable family situations.

Crime (Courts, Prisons) will be among the fastest growing industries. At present we are in a losing battle against private enterprise prisons where the bottom line partnership has gained a foothold making that sector a big lobbying activity for crime.

Retirement will be a big concern and how to survive which calls for more moving to Mexico

There is a great deal in the matter for a lot of thought.....
Lloyd Winburn

THE ECONOMIC DOWNTURN MAY BLOW THE SOCKS OFF HISTORY

2008-01-13T16:02:00.000-08:00

THE CURRENT DOWNTURN just might have a lot of surprised in it. Things that worked in the past may not answer the deed today. We had better have leadership that can think out of the box and prepare us for the worse. Who can or could do it?

The LA Times carried this story today:
The new bubble-prone economy

The current downturn looks more unsettling than a simple swing in the financial cycle, and traditional remedies might not be up to the task.
By Peter Gosselin, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer January 13, 2008

WASHINGTON -- As presidential candidates and government policymakers rush to offer prescriptions for the deteriorating U.S. economy, some are beginning to worry about a disturbing possibility: This may not be your traditional downturn. And the tools that helped restore prosperity in the past may prove less effective this time around. Cyclical downturns, including recessions, have long been a feature of the nation's economic landscape after periods of sustained growth. So has one of the most popular antidotes: a fiscal stimulus in the form of tax cuts or higher government spending.

READ IT ALL ON THE TIMES'S SITE:

DICK HEADS OF THE YEAR

2007-12-24T12:05:00.000-08:00

COMPETION FOR FOR THE CIA or are they an arm of that monstrous operation?
http://www.rollingstone.com/photos/gallery/17538811/dickheads_of_the_year/photo/2/large

Erik Prince We used to have rent-a-cops. Now we have rent-a-soldiers. As CEO of Blackwater, the most notorious private-security contractor in Iraq, Prince has his own navy, air force and spy agency. This guy is building nothing short of a parallel national-security apparatus. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but he's a super-Christy Jesus freak who looks on the Crusades the way rednecks pine for the Confederacy.

TIME TO DISMANTLE THE CIA

2007-12-24T09:22:00.000-08:00

We must seriously consider dismantling the CIA. It will grow increasingly self-preservative and its interests will NOT coincide with the interests of the American People. It is rapidly becoming a run-away- power.
SEE:
http://www.latimes.com/news/la-na-cia24dec24,0,5282952,full.story?coll=la-tot-topstories

LET' FILL THE PRISONS WITH THE MENTALLY ILL

2007-12-07T08:20:00.000-08:00

There is a great way to fill the prisons. Jail all the mentally disturbed. The justice system will help...

See the Los Anageles Times for today for a complete story on this problem

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-me-reny7dec07,0,1736943.story?coll=la-tot-topstories&track=ntothtml

Shutting door to treatment
By Lee Romney and Scott Gold
When those descending into mental illness commit a crime, their chances of getting needed help can dissolve when law enforcement arrives.

THAT IS A LOT OF BODIES

2007-10-12T15:10:00.000-07:00

DEATHS

Deaths in custody. "More than 2,000 criminal suspects died in police custody over a three-year period, half of them killed by officers as they scuffled or attempted to flee."

KEEP IN MIND, THESE WERE "CRIMINAL SUSPECTS." THINK OF WHAT GOES ON ONCE THERE ARE CONVICTIONS.

STALIN LIVES! In the Good Old USA, TOO!

2007-10-08T05:59:00.000-07:00

Soon You'll Have To Ask Permission Before You Fly
By Mark Nestman10 -4 -7

Last year, I wrote here that if Uncle Sam gets its way, we'd all be on no-fly lists, unless the government gives us permission to leave - or re-enter - the United States.

Now, the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) has proposed a similar system for travel on commercial airlines WITHIN the United States. Both systems will come into effect Feb. 19, 2008.

Under the TSA's "Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) initiative," you'll need to obtain permission from the U.S. government to travel on ANY commercial airliner or ship that goes to or from the United States. You won't receive your boarding pass until you are cleared by APIS. You'll also need permission to travel through the United States (e.g., if you're changing planes at a U.S. airport on a trip between two foreign countries). It doesn't matter if you're a U.S. citizen or permanent resident. Everyone will need permission to enter - or leave - the United States.

Then, on Aug. 23, 2007, the TSA issued proposed regulations for its "Secure Flight" program.

The TSA wants commercial airlines to submit passenger information through a single DHS portal for both the Secure Flight and APIS programs. This would result in one DHS system responsible for watch list matching for all aviation passengers. Naturally, the entire process - for both domestic and international travel - will occur in total secrecy. If you're denied permission to travel, you won't be able to appeal the decision to any court. Your only recourse will be through the TSA bureaucracy. Essentially, you'll be reduced to pleading with the TSA to say something like, "pretty please, give me a boarding pass."

What this amounts to is essentially a reprise of the infamous "internal passport" system in effect in the former Soviet Union. In 1933, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin introduced "internal passports" that prohibited Soviet citizens from leaving their place of residence without permission. Over time, the internal passport became the prime instrument of Soviet oppression over its citizens. It's bad enough needing to ask Uncle Sam for permission to leave the United States, and to reenter it. But an internal passport is a blueprint for totalitarianism.

Mark Nestman, Privacy Expert & President
The Nestmann Group www.nestmann.com

We got this from SENSE.Com and urge you to visit them

BUSH HAS FAILED THE TEST AND HIS WAR IS NOT JUSTIFIED

2007-09-20T07:05:00.001-07:00

Thomas Aquinas on when it is lawful or just to wage war;

http://www.newadvent.org/summa/3040.htm

Thirdly, it is necessary that the belligerents should have a rightful intention, so that they intend the advancement of good, or the avoidance of evil. Hence Augustine says (De Verb. Dom. [The words quoted are to be found not in St. Augustine's works, but Can. Apud. Caus. xxiii, qu. 1): "True religion looks upon as peaceful those wars that are waged not for motives of aggrandizement, or cruelty, but with the object of securing peace, of punishing evil-doers, and of uplifting the good." For it may happen that the war is declared by the legitimate authority, and for a just cause, and yet be rendered unlawful through a wicked intention. Hence Augustine says (Contra Faust. xxii, 74): "The passion for inflicting harm, the cruel thirst for vengeance, an unpacific and relentless spirit, the fever of revolt, the lust of power, and such like things, all these are rightly condemned in war."

Bush's hidden agenda makes him liable

AFTER 4 YEARS, 4,000 DEATHS AND MUCH HATE AND CANNOT LEAVE THE HOUSE

2007-09-19T06:21:00.001-07:00

THE LA TIMES reports:
The embassy bars officials in Baghdad from traveling by land outside the Green Zone.
By Ned Parker, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer September 19, 2007
BAGHDAD -- -- The U.S. Embassy on Tuesday banned diplomats and other civilian government employees indefinitely from traveling by land outside the heavily protected Green Zone as American and Iraqi officials debated the legal status of foreign security contractors after a weekend shooting incident here in which eight civilians were reported killed.The Iraqi government announced Tuesday that its initial investigation had determined that Blackwater USA guards fired without provocation on Iraqi civilians at a Baghdad traffic circle Sunday. The account contradicted statements by the North Carolina-based security company and the U.S. State Department that the guards had come under small-arms fire after a car bomb exploded.

READ THE ENTIRE REPORT. http://www.latimes.com/news/la-fg-blackwater19sep19,0,7284846.story?coll=la-tot-topstories&track=ntothtml

LET'S GET OUT NOW. HOW MANY MORE LOSSES DO WE WANT?

PREPARING TO MOVE ON

2007-09-18T18:28:00.000-07:00

For a few weeks now I have been in San Miguel Cuyutlan, Municipalidad of Tlajomulco, State of Jalisco, Mexico. Things are great and I expect to be here for maybe another month. The liquidatin of Coto del Valle, a small sub division we have here. If you are interested in settling in Mexico, there could be no better place. The lots we have are cheap with water, sewer, park, gates, streets, street lights and underground power feed to individual lots. Take a look at www.liveinmexico.com/realestate.htm

Once the work has been done, I will off to La Paz, Baja California Sur on the Sea of Cortez. My son Craig is there with his wife Chele where he runs a place called www.bahiadelossuenos.com. I will try to settle on the beach where my kids and grand kids can be tempted to come to visit.

Right now it is dificilt to keep up with everything, but I read the LA Times regularly and pay attention to the news from around the world. Things do not look good. Bush has done a lot of damage to our economy, our image and our peace of mind. It is too bad he has over two years to go.

The Attorney General Would Execute According to Party Loyalty

2007-08-14T05:33:00.000-07:00

Read the whole story in the Los Angeles Times

Gonzales could get say in states' executions
Proposed rules would let the attorney general sign off on 'fast tracking' death penalty appeals.
By Richard B. Schmitt, Los Angeles Times Staff WriterAugust 14, 2007

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department is putting the final touches on regulations that could give Atty. Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales important new sway over death penalty cases in California and other states, including the power to shorten the time that death row inmates have to appeal convictions to federal courts.The rules implement a little-noticed provision in last year's reauthorization of the Patriot Act that gives the attorney general the power to decide whether individual states are providing adequate counsel for defendants in death penalty cases. The authority has been held by federal judges.Under the rules now being prepared, if a state requested it and Gonzales agreed, prosecutors could use "fast track" procedures that could shave years off the time that a death row inmate has to appeal to the federal courts after conviction in a state court.The move to shorten the appeals process and effectively speed up executions comes at a time of growing national concern about the fairness of the death penalty, underscored by the use of DNA testing to establish the innocence of more than a dozen death row inmates in recent years.

WE ARE NOT IN A DEFENSIBLE POSITION

2007-07-18T06:59:00.000-07:00

We must pull back to a defensible position. This is a truth of battle and war.

The Los Angeles Times reports...... counter-terrorism efforts have constrained the ability of Al Qaeda to launch attacks in the United States. But it warns that the country is in a "heightened threat environment" largely because Osama bin Laden and his senior deputies have moved to reestablish their leadership of the far-flung network and refocus its energies on striking the United States.The report also concludes that Al Qaeda "will probably seek to leverage the contacts and capabilities" of the Iraq-based group Al Qaeda in Iraq. The document says the ongoing war has given a new generation of operatives lethal experience and has helped the broader network raise money and get recruits.

If we pull back, we get more help from the locals in fighting the enemy because they are no longer foolishly waiting for something to happen vis a vis the United States. Right now they are killing themselves and our troops and allies.

Leaving, we leave them to kill each other and we can concentrate on a new tactic to seek out and kill the enemy with the resources we are squandering in Iraq now. Ultimately, they will find a way to live in peace.

We can strengthen our defenses here at home against terrorism and infiltration and preserve our freedoms at the same time. At present we are losing the war in Iraq and losing our freedoms and quality of life at home.

Let's pull back to a defensible position. NOW.

MORE ON GOVERNMENT RUN AMUCK

2007-06-24T19:25:00.000-07:00

Department of Justice's integrity on trial
From a news story on Federal Indictments.....

Thomas Carver has been an attorney for more than 30 years. In the past two decades he's practiced criminal defense law primarily in the federal court system.

Earlier this month he filed a motion unlike any he's filed before.
Carver is seeking information that could shed light on whether the federal government is prosecuting his client for political purposes.

The eight-page legal brief is just the latest salvo in the simmering controversy over the White House's involvement in the firing of several U.S. attorneys in the Justice Department. The battle over Carver's attempt to gain information once again makes Missouri Ground Zero in the discussion.

While Democrats in Congress press the case over Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' inability to run his department, and Republicans try to deflect the criticism as nothing but a political witchunt, the real damage in the affair might end up being played out in the nation's halls of justice.
At the federal courthouse in Springfield, Carver is seeking information about communication that two former U.S. attorneys for the Western District of Missouri, Bradley Schlozman and Todd Graves, might have had with former undersecretary of the Department of Homeland Security Asa Hutchinson. He's not alleging corruption, Carver says, but like the Democrats seeking the paper trail that led to the politically motivated firings of several U.S. attorneys, Carver wants to see whether Schlozman or others targeted his clients for political purposes.
Carver represents Brentt G. Tumey, who along with other members of his family own an Arkansas contracting company, Managed Subcontractors Inc. The company was involved as a labor broker on a $50 million construction project at Fort Leonard Wood. At some point, federal investigators discovered violations of prevailing wage laws, and many companies, including MSI, paid fines to the government.
Only one of those companies has faced federal indictment. And Carver argues that the political implications are clear. Tumey's mother, Robbyn, was a candidate for Arkansas state representative in 2004. Her opponent? Timmy Hutchinson, son of a U.S. senator and nephew of Asa Hutchinson, who at the time was running for Arkansas governor.

Tumey later withdrew from that race. But in April 2006, she again announced her intention to seek the House seat as a Democrat. Two months later, Asa Hutchinson, in the midst of the gubernatorial race he would later lose, announced plans to be tough on illegal immigrants.
Six days later, MSI, and Carver's client, Brentt Tumey, were indicted as a result of a federal immigration investigation into the long-ago completed construction project at Fort Leonard Wood. The indictment focuses on what Carver calls "technical violations" of prevailing wage laws.

"It is ironic to say the least that almost three years after an investigation of alleged wage and hour violations by virtually every contractor and subcontractor on the Fort Leonard Wood Construction project was concluded, an indictment was handed down in which, by implication, a candidate for public office was charged with a crime through her company, her son and her sister," Carver argues in his motion seeking communication from Schlozman or Graves to their superiors, or to the U.S. attorneys prosecuting the case, that might indicate the case has political implications. "Even more alarming is the possibility that the Department of Justice has been manipulated by political opportunists."
That sentence alone sums up the greater implications in the replacement of U.S. attorneys so that political operatives such as Schlozman could sully the reputation of the Department of Justice.

Carver has great respect for the department that he usually does battle with in his cases. "I think that generally speaking in the past, the motives of the U.S. attorney's office has been above reproach," he says. "I am not of the same mind today."

Regardless of the guilt or innocence of Carver's clients, the very fact that the Department of Justice is now in the business of having to defend itself from allegations of corruption hurts the cause of justice. If Carver's clients are guilty, the process of having to prove that Schlozman wasn't doing the bidding of Republican higher-ups could negatively affect the ability to get a conviction. And if Carver's clients are innocent — or they're being singled out while other similar violations are ignored — then the long-term damage to our system is immeasurable.

"I don't think it occurred to them the potential damage to our system of justice," Carver says of those in the White House who sought to use the Department of Justice as a means to a political end. "It's a tremendous blow to people's understanding of justice."

MORE ON THE PASSPORT FIASCO

2007-06-20T08:33:00.000-07:00

THE PASSPORT FIASCO rolls along. Excuses have come flooding out of Washington in torrents. The LOS ANGELES TIMES has a good story on the mess.

For nearly two years, federal officials knew the revised rules were coming, along with a crush of applications. And Tuesday, during a packed subcommittee hearing on the passport backlog, senators assailed Maura Harty, assistant secretary of State for consular affairs.
(Emphasis is mine).
"We want to know who is accountable, why this mess happened," said Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), the panel's chairman, who spent Monday with irate travelers in Tampa.

Acknowledging the department's miscalculation, Harty said that employees had been swamped by "a record-setting demand in a compressed period of time."

Some officials, however, have described the delays as a reasonable price to pay for added national security.

"Yes, there may be some delays involved and some personal inconvenience, but this effort is a righteous effort, and it will make our country more secure," Russ Knocke, chief spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, said last week.

Who is to blame for the GOVERNMENT RUN AMOK?

------Lloyd Winburn

On the Mouthings of Ann Coulter (Whoever that is)

2007-06-14T10:58:00.000-07:00

A correspond (friend) asked me to comment on a posting by someone who evidently posted her shingle as an expert on current affairs. I want to share it with you.

Ron, You asked for me to comment on this article by Ann Coulter (whoever that is).
My remarks are in red for your convenience.

Lloyd Winburn

'No Drug Smuggler Left Behind!'
by Ann Coulter
Posted: 06/13/2007
President Bush was so buoyed by the warm reception he was given in Albania that he immediately gave all 3 million Albanians American citizenship, provided they learn Spanish. The offer was withdrawn when Bush found out most Albanians haven't broken any U.S. laws.
Why would Bush require Spanish? I can accept that he is that stupid, but I think this was an attempt to be clever.
Bush keeps claiming he's dying to enforce the border, but he just can't do it unless we immediately grant amnesty to 12 million illegal aliens.
It is a matter of what is possible.
I wonder if that worked on Laura Bush:Laura: George, it's time you quit drinking.
George: OK, honey, let's discuss it over cocktails.

Cute and even humorous.
How about Bush enforce the border and then we'll discuss his amnesty plan?
That would be fine too. That is a lot more easily said than done. Let’s have a multi facited program:
Number 1 Immediate beef up the process/bureaucracy/enforcement.
Number 2 would be to attack the need for getting employees for industry in this country:
By increased minimum wage
By whatever other remedies you might suggest
Number 3 Give incentives to American industry to manufacture in Mexico and providing a number of jobs there that would ameliorate the problem.
Numbr 4 Get Mexico to help with the problem of immigrants from Central American crossing the country. That would immediately change the numbers.
Number 5 Register foreign workers; Get them to contributing to the SS system, paying taxes and getting an education (including the learning to speak English and raising the level of their competency in Spanish (which is atrocious). Open the gates wide. Collect fines which would have to be paid on credit (thus making the banks happy), health exams would have to be passed (like they were at Ellis Island); Get them into the system with ID’s. Those who are arrested once get put on a special watch list the second time, they are out.
If any employer hires one without this proper identification is immediatey arrested, fined and put on a list. The second time the Chairman goes to jail and the third time the entire Board of Directors are jailed.
Anyone not here under those minimal legal terms are incarcerated for one year of hard labor and are hired out to minimum wage employers who pay a premium to the US for their work and must provide minimal accommodations for them as to housing, food and health care.
I know there are more positive things that can be done. Put people like this lady have us hung out on stupid emotionalism to be thinkers.

Forget the wall. It is a throwback to medieval times and will not serve any purpose. It is costly ugly and ineffectual. Note Israel, The Cold War Wall in Europe and all the walls, fences, motes, trenches, spikes and other useless things used down through the ages to keep people in or out. Even the Romans, faced with the hordes in the North, did not see a way to use a wall.

He assures us that granting amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants already here won't inspire millions more to run across the border because ... he's going to put infrared lights at the border!

I think I would put up infra red and ultra violent. Maybe consider laser beams that cut people in half. Good God, what is wrong with these people, so limited in imagination? (I can be cute too.)

Well, that's a relief. What precisely will infrared lights do again? This is worse than those fake cameras they sell at hardware stores to make it look like you have cameras outside your house. We still need something or someone -- say, a wall or a Border Patrol agent -- to stop the Mexicans illegally crossing the border as we watch them on the infrared cameras.

Put up life-like pictures of Ronald Reagan and John Wayne and Richard Nixon. That should frighten them away.

Bush won't build a wall and he keeps prosecuting law enforcement officers who stop illegal border crossers. But trust him: He'll get right on that border enforcement business as soon as we grant amnesty to 12 million illegal aliens.

Begs many questions. Still no suggestions from this genius. What has she contributed by way of solutions or suggested approaches?

Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean are normally the sort of Mexican-Americans Bush would tear up at while promoting amnesty for illegal aliens. Both served in the military and are taxpaying, law-abiding citizens. They've been risking their lives as Border Patrol agents for years.Ramos was nominated for Border Patrol Agent of the Year in 2005. His nomination received a major setback when the Bush administration decided to put him in prison instead. Ramos and Compean are now serving more than 10 years apiece in solitary confinement for chasing a drug-running illegal alien back to Mexico.

All over the place, isn't she?

If she is going to use examples, she should go for ALL the facts. Besides, we cannot abandon our own principals and belief for Justice and Equity and become just like our enemies to repair our system or maintain our precious liberty and freedom. She appeals to the most unknowing, ignorant and uninformed when she uses this hyperbole and fear technique.

Bush's pal, U.S. Attorney Johnny Sutton, gave immunity to a Mexican drug dealer hauling a million dollars worth of drugs across the border so that the drug dealer could testify against two Border Patrol agents who shot him in the buttocks.

Now, she talks disjointed about the DRUG WAR and THE JUSTICE SYSTEM. That is not entirely another problem but it is a major problem on its own and has been stupidly dealt with by making everything related to the production, cultivation, manufacturing, taking, warehousing and selling possessing of drugs a crime punishable by imprisonment. DID WE NOT LEARN ANYTHING FROM THE PROHIBITION EXPERIMENT?

Once we control the manuracture, warehousing, wholesaling, retailing and transporting of these substances that are available legally to users, we have won the war on drugs--- To the degree that we have won the war on alcohol.

The border patrol agents were presumed guilty of an unlawful shooting because they neglected to fill out the proper paperwork.

Just take a broad look at the CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM to see that this is not only applicable there.

With the ability to convict on “conspiracy” charges, everything becomes a conspiracy. Subquently the prisons are full to over flowing and there are more people in this country in jail thatn in any other (percentage). Mandatory Minimums disrupts families, serves no prupose because they are not accompanied by any degree of rehabilitation, etc., etc. IN THIS COUNTRY EVERYTHING IS AGAINST THE LAW. Prosecutors rig the juries and work hand in glove with the Judges to railroad first time offenders, with no violence, no fines, no community service. Her talents could be used if she would focus and get some depth.

The hot words; Cute phrases; Jumping from one subject to another does not educate. It only riles the ignorant and uninformed into a thoughtless mass of voters who become single issue nuts.

For busting a cap in the butt of a drug courier crossing the border illegally -- who was so mortally wounded that he proceeded to scamper back to Mexico -- they were supposed to spend five hours filling out paperwork. This is what the Bush administration means when it talks about a "cover-up." As U.S. prosecutor Debra Kanof said, "You have to report any discharge of a firearm."Intriguingly, Kanof also says: "The Border Patrol pursuit policy prohibits the pursuit of someone." (Hence, the oft-heard warning of the border agent in hot pursuit, "Stop or I'll ... do absolutely nothing!") Can we apply this rule to meter maids and tax collectors? At least now border agents will be able to watch the illegal aliens they can't pursue on infrared cameras!But wait -- that's not all! The Border Patrol agents also exceeded the speed limit. "In order to exceed the speed limit," Kanof said, "you have to get supervisor approval, and they did not." It's just so hard to fill out a written request to exceed the speed limit when you're off-roading at 65 mph. There's a whispering campaign suggesting that Ramos and Compean failed to use their turn signal.As I understand it, you're also supposed to not cross the border illegally from Mexico with a van full of drugs. But the Bush administration has no interest in enforcing those laws. Ninety-eight percent of illegal aliens captured crossing the border illegally are not prosecuted. Those drugs are doing the job American drugs just won't do!The Bush administration pulls out the big guns only for serious violations like a Border Patrol officer not filling out paperwork.

WOW, WE HAVE AN AWFUL COUNTRY, DON’T WE? She is hot on their tail.

Now, I like my police in bright uniforms with wide shiny belts and shoes, big badges and contrasting stripes up their legs and around their cuffs. I want to know where they are at all time; I want them to have and operate by rules and to abide by the rules; I want the rules to be sound as relates to the Constitutional Guarantee for our Basic FREEDOMS.

I do not believe that we punish risk, castigate, and mistreat one person or thousands in pursuit of criminals either in investigation or in hot pursuit. There is, after all, great power of the government to pursue in more ways than one.

We have a great country, our system is good and only takes a well informed electorate to keep it all together. Sure, there are problems. (I personally like the Parliamentary System. The government falls if it cannot muster the support in Parliament on an issue. This would eliminate the endless debate on capital punishment, the drug war, abortion---- and, the WAR. The government would fall and the people would be called upon to vote on the issue by voting for leadership that would perform as they want them to.

In addition to giving the illegal alien drug smuggler full immunity to testify against U.S. Border Patrol agents, the government gave him taxpayer-funded medical care for his buttocks wound, an unconditional border-crossing card, the right to sue the U.S. for "civil rights" violations, and a GAP gift card. The drug runner is also on the short-list to replace Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. He's now suing the U.S. for $5 million, but the Bush administration is hoping to bargain him down to $10 million. That border-crossing card came in handy when the winged illegal alien brought in another load of drugs a short eight months later -- for which he has still not been charged, nearly two years later. Who does he think he is? Rep. William Jefferson?Bush's pal Sutton keeps defending his decision to prosecute Border Patrol agents for paperwork violations, rather than an illegal alien for drug trafficking, on the grounds that the drug dealer has not been charged with any crimes. Let's see, whose job is it to charge that Mexican drug runner with a crime? Why, I believe that would be Johnny Sutton!Maybe Sutton was too busy prosecuting another Mexican-American law enforcement officer for trying to stop illegal aliens from crossing our border. Deputy Sheriff Gilmer Hernandez shot at the tires of a van full of illegal aliens, inadvertently wounding one of them. Sutton prosecuted Hernandez. The government proceeded to give the illegal aliens green cards and $100,000 each.I didn't realize "living in the shadows" meant in the shadows of palm trees around the pools at taxpayer-funded houses.Illegal aliens might want to rethink Bush's amnesty plan. The only Hispanics Bush seems to prosecute are the ones who are law-abiding U.S. citizens.

These last few paragraphs are meaningless without thought and discussion.
As to the use on the PLEA BARGAIN, I personally feel it is evil and is open to and has been used in many cased for unjust means for dubious ends. That goes to the heart of the problems with the Criminal Justice System See http://www.famm.com, www.paracletefoundation.org, http://www.drugwarfacts.org/, http://www.cato.org/pubs/regulation/regv26n3/v26n3-7.pdf

It is exciting, Ron, to be alive in these challenging times. Too interesting to fall for quick fixes, short sighted answers, autocracy, lack of charity. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autocracy

I HOPE WE CAN FIND SOME COMMON GROUND HERE.

Lloyd Winburn

A SCANDAL IS BREWING IN THE PASSPORT ISSUE

2007-06-13T09:46:00.000-07:00

There is a real chance that I cannot get out of here.

A year ago I applied for a passport anticipating my being able to leave now. But the request was denied because I did not have an order from the court. So, they kept my money and sent my paperwork back.

A few days after the Court approved travel for me, I applied and got caught up in the situation as it exists today.

I have bought a ticket and made extensive plans to leave on the 23rd. Things look bleak now. I have never had a birth certificate, having been born before recorded history in a little town in a desolate county of Texas in 1927.

My first passport issued ages ago was granted on the fact that I had served in the US Navy in WWII and an affidavit from my older sister that, yes, I was born in the US. My documents are all with my wife's things. She died in Mexico.

I will try to get a boarding pass on the 23..... Wish me luck. I will keep you posted.

Or, if you have ideas or connections, let me know.

Love.
Lloyd Ray Winburn
January 20, 1927
1166

Passport application locator number is 311791396.

FROM THE LOS ANGELES TIMES TODAY....
Passport waiver confusion grounds travelers
A government waiver to ease a backlog has a side effect: Some bound for Mexico needed to show a birth certificate.
By Peter Pae and Jane Engle, Times Staff WritersJune 13, 2007
Related Stories
-

quirements for traveling to Mexico, Canada
-
Travel rule eased amid passport backlog
-
Passport law changes: What U.S. travelers need to know
-
New passport rules waived
-
Passport picture getting ugly
-
Applying for a passport

Just when it seemed the passport logjam was starting to ease, passengers faced another obstacle Tuesday: Some airlines refused to let them board planes because they didn't have birth certificates.

Everyone seems to have been asleep: The Congress has it head in an unspeakable place trying to deal with the War in Iraq and the mis-begotten Security Laws stemming out of the 9-11 tragedy; the Administration of George W Bush is totally without direction trying to cover its backside from all the scandals of the Attorney General, War Contractors/profiteers, etc.

There is a real scandal working here. I addressed it a few days ago here in my Blog anticipating this situation.

It's a real bummer-----

Lloyd Winburn

Going Into The Navy 1945

2007-06-12T09:35:00.000-07:00

In this picture----

I have already been in the Navy a few months here. After Boot Camp in San Diego, I went home for a 5 day leave. Returning to San Diego I was assigned to classes at the Naval Hospital Navy Hospital Corpsman school. Completing the course, I was assigned to Long Beach Naval Hospital and went int SOQ, Sick Officer Quarters. After a short duty there I went into training as Physical Therapist...... This picture was taken when I was on Liberty down at the Pike a favorite joy spot for sailors in those days.

The Story in Details follow soon.

LLoyd Winburnj

ANOTHER LOG JAM IN GOVERNMENT SERVICES

2007-06-06T10:34:00.000-07:00

PASSPORTS AS A BUSINESS
------------Lloyd Winburn

It is seriously puzzling how the business of passports is run. There is only one source for passports. That makes it a monopoly.

Every citizen is required to have a passport if he is going to leave the country. That is a good market and requires no promotion or advertising cost.

There is not an entrepreneur in the US that would not like to have the business. It is not put out for bid, however, and may not be the thing to do. For the life of me I cannot develop an objection to the idea.

The price is set and is firm-- no negotiating. If the applicant wants “extraordinary” service, he must pay more… more than double.

Here are other business advantages the Passport Department has:

They do not have to have branch offices. That is contracted out to the Post Office and some independent locations (Universities as one group).
The work of accepting applications is farmed out with a fee of approximately $30 plus any profit that can be made on the photographs for which an applicant pays $10. ( At ASU Campus in Tempe, AZ).
It takes one person about 15 minutes to complete an application and hours of service are set rather arbitrarily to suit the situation of the PO or the other contractor.
Payment is received in Cash or Cashier Checks or Postal Money Order only. Now that is a cash sale, the type treasured by every business. There is no wait for the money, no hold back problems as might be the case if credit cards are used; and the accepting only cash and cash instruments requires no special handling or bookkeeping.
Embassies can also issue passports and in my experience that is no big task. I got a new passport in less than an hour at an Embassy. And that including a great deal of conversation with the Consul about the local economy and politics.
There is only one product involved in the issuance of passports. There is special technology involved but not inaccessible and not realistically so expensive. The paper is special but is bought in such large quantities, it should be enjoying a tremendous volume price break.
There is very little warehousing of paper and supplies needed.
Printing can be done by contractors or on equipment that is readily available for purchase or on lease.
The paperwork or documents supporting an application is simple and easily verified and easily filed and maintained. There is no question that it is important to keep good records and be confident that documents supporting an application should be scrutinized carefully. However, there is no reason why, in the absence of serious doubt, the passport could not be issued and the investigation as to the authenticity be sent to a security level for investigation. A passport is always within control of the government. At any checkpoint a passport can be lifted.
The talent of the workers manufacturing the passports has to be among the lowest pay grades. The passport is not a difficult binding task and probably is mechanized.
There are undoubtedly people on the payroll whose duty is to inspect the final product and sign off on it. This surely is at the end of an inspection process to avoid shenanigans, but that should require no space scientists or legal talent or other professionals that would run up the labor cost on issuing a document.
Delivery is made by public or commercial means and is no task or extraordinary cost.
All fees for a walkin applicant who is force to wait up to 12 weeks (or more) amouants to $107.
If the applicant wants the “special handling” that is offered, he must pay an additional $90.

Making an attempt at costing out a Passport, I have:
$10 for paper, printing
5. for data and seal application labor
13. for application handling and record examination labor
10. Overhead
4 Delivery

$42 Total Gross cost

That leaves $25 for my margin of error or gross profit.

I suppose that if this is run down at the US Budget Office, the cost would come out in a negative amount of millions of dollars each year. That is the nature of government.
There would really be not room to complain if there were not budget deficit in the operation, I suppose.

The only Question left is: Why the need for four months or more to produce a passport?

2007-05-31T13:30:00.000-07:00

Lloyd Winburn

WAR IN THE PACIFIC

LEAVE THE DOCTORS OUT OF IT ONCE YOU GET THEIR HELP CONFIRMING THE DIAGNOSIS.

AMERICA'S CHALLENGE

EDUCATION AND THE ECONOMY

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?

GUEST POST. TIME TO END THE DRUG WAR

IT IS TIME WE HELPED OURSELVES. THE TIME IS RIPE. LETS GRAB THE GOLDEN RING!

EARN 2% TO 10% ON YOUR INVESTMENT EACH MONTH... WITH MINIMAL RISK

EARN 2%, 4%, 5%, 8%, 10% OR EVEN MORE EACH MONTH ON YOUR INVESTMENT....WITH MINIMAL RISK

EARN 2% TO 10% ON YOUR INVESTMENT EACH MONTH... WITH MINIMAL RISK

EARN 2% TO 10% ON YOUR INVESTMENT EACH MONTH... WITH MINIMIMAL RISK

ARIZONA: RESIDECE OF THE WING NUTS.... RIGHT WING, JAN BREWER

OFFSHORE TAX DODGER.

NEW CAPITAL GROWTH STUDY CLUB IS FOUNDED

POSITIVE SIGNES FOR RECOVERY AND PREVENTION

FOLLOW THE MONEY....

ONE MORE GIANT STEP FOR MANKIND

GUN TOTERS IN UTAH: Vigilantes on the Move

BARELY HANGING ON: Health Care Needed NOW!

MY SISTER DID

THE MOST ASTUTE, CALM ANALYSES OF AMERICA'S DEBT

WRITER'S BLOCK

ALL THE LIES AND HYPOCRISY OUT THERE

CITIES OF THE WORLD

Blackwater Employees Accuse Security Contractor of Defrauding Government

WANT MORE UNCONTROLLED CAPITALISM?

Banks Won Big By Betting Against Own Securities

ENEMY WITHIN: JOE ARAPIO. THIEF OF FREEDOM WHO SMOTHERS INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS

Inland Z: In the name of our National Security

TURN TO BOOKS

TIME TO TAKE A NEW LOOK AT HENRY GEORGE

BRIBES BY BLACKWATER IN IRAQ

DEDICATION

WHERE DO WE HAVE OUR HEAD?

PRISON AND DRUG REHABILITATION

WE ARE DRIFTING TO ANARCHY

A CALL TO PATROTIC WOMEN

WOMEN OF THE WORLD, UNITE! YOU HOLD OUR PEACE BETWEEN YOUR LEGS

TOP SAIL ISLAND FOR THE WINBURNS 2006

REALLY AN END OF AN ERA

GET THE KIDS OFF THE STREETS

South Korean kids get a taste of boot camp Check this out at the LA TIMES

These youths aren't delinquents -- most are sent by parents who realize that their pampered offspring need more discipline to become better students and grow into conscientious adults.

CIVIL WORKS ADMINISTRATION WORKED THEN

CIVIL WORKS ADMINISTRATION (CWA)

A NEW APPROACH; A NEW AGE, A GREAT NEED

NEW STUDY ON CANCER FROM JOHNS HOPKINS

CLINTON IN NORTH KOREA

NO ON BANKRUPTCY. YES ON STAYING OUR OF COURT

ALTERNATIVE TO BANKRUPTCY

GREAT BOOK ON MARIJUANA AND ILLEGAL ALIENS

CAPITALISM UNCHECKED CAN BE EVIL

THE US OWNS 80% OF AIG

GET THE PICTURE

PART OF THE CORRUPTION OF CAPITALISM

OBAMA'S GREAT GIVE AWAY: A NECESSARY EVIL

THE FIRST DAY

EACH OF US IS GUILTY. WE DO NOTHING

AVOIDING THE BLAME NET

MCCAIN CAUGHT AGAIN IN AN UNTRUTH

McCain's science earmark error

TRUTH AND JUSTICE

CHANGES IN WASHINGTON HOLD PROMISE

IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE SCREWED, BE KISSED AT LEAST

GOVERNMENT? AS USUAL...

EAST IS EAST AND WEST IS WEST

HOW CAN WE SHUT THESE FLAMING LIBERALS UP?

Notice the date.

When Will We Learn? by Harry Browne September 12, 2001

Teaching Lessons

Losing our Last Freedoms

What to Do

Patriotism?

IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO BAIL OUT THE BIG GUYS.

PLAYING POLITICS WITH JUSTICE

Probe finds illegal hiring at Justice Department

... NOW WE SEE IN A MIRROR DIMLY...

THE TRUTH WILL BE KNOWN

SENATOR TED KENNEDY

When Will We Learn?
by Harry Browne
September 12, 2001